Silver Nestled in Evergreen - A Team Rocket Story
by ReaperOfLostSouls
Summary: Finally reaching her dreams, Silver doesn't know what to do with herself. Except apologize. Returning to her home region, she encounters a family secret that is waiting to be uncovered. What will she do when she learns who her father truly is? Who she truly is? And her connection to the infamous Team Rocket? Adult themes. A Rocket story.
1. Prologue

**A/N: I was going to have this story about a female Silver, instead of a kid that is like male Silver, from the games/pokemon adventure series. But, I couldn't find a good picture of a red haired, silver eyed girl, and I think this Silver having brown hair instead of red is a bit more interesting. **

**This story will be setting place in the anime, more than the games or the pokemon adventure manga. It's my twist on the anime, and I personally prefer most of the characters in the anime then I do the games… or even the manga. At times. A darker side to the anime. We'll say it that way. And in this story, Ash ages. The characters are aging, so that's good. I don't know if a 'Jimmy, Marina, or Vincent' group of characters will exist in this story… probably not. And if you're wondering who those characters are, Jimmy and Marina are the Gold and Crystal counterparts, in the anime. We'll just see how it goes, but don't count on them showing up.**

**This'll be a Team Rocket story. A story about a girl uncovering a deep family secret, and the choices she makes in her life. Kind of a mafia/gangster story… we'll see how it plays out, but I'm writing this for fun. I've written other OCs in the past, going on adventures, but I wanted to write this story. And, since I've written a few chapters in, already, and like where the story is going, I decided to post it. **

**If you guys have any specific characters from the anime or manga/games you want to see, don't be afraid to ask! And if you like my story, I'd love to hear your COMMENTS. I hope you guys ENJOY the rest of your day, and I hope you enjoy this Rocket story.**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"_Charizard! Respond to my heart, key stone! Suppress evolution! Mega evolve!"_

"_Let's show the true power of a charizard! Blaze, link with my heart and mega evolve!" _

_Two trainers, two mega charizards. One was a black and blue charizard, while the other was a typical looking orange and yellow charizard, with spikes and a sharper look to its attire. The crowd gasp, breathing in anticipation, while the boy sucked in a deep breath, and the girl let out a soft, low calming breath._

You watched from a screen on your electrical notepad, your head in your hand and headphones in your ears as you waited for the built up tension to break.

"_Let's go! Use dragon claw!" the boy showed, and his mega evolved black charizard ran with a loud roar leaving his breath, but the girl held up her fist dramatically._

"_Blaze! Block and use swords dance!" she shouted, her mega orange charizard holding up his arms and using the swords dance to block the slash of the dragon claw, but also caused the black charizard to jump back. "Earthquake!" she yelled, her charizard roaring, and slamming his foot into the ground, causing the earth to shatter and break, rumble in terror as the black charizard tried to take flight to avoid the earthquake._

_But sadly, the boy didn't respond quick enough and his charizard suffered a bit of damage. "Fly up and use flamethrower!" he shouted, his charizard jolting up into the air, causing the girl to scoff as the flames grew closer._

"_Fly into the flames! Throw him back with dragon tail!" she shouted as her charizard took off into the air, flying directly into the flames, and as he spun through the air, as if he was swirling through a tornado of fire, his wings instantly opened up as he drew near, and his body moving in a perfect circular motion as his flaming tail spun to hit the other charizard in the head._

"_Block with dragon claw!" he shouted, the black charizard using his dragon claw to collide with the dragon tail, but the momentum of the movement sent the charizard crashing into the ground._

"_Blast burn, let's go!" she yelled, fist pumping the ground as the orange charizard roared loudly, his fist slamming into the ground and causing flames to erupt from the ground._

"_Quick! Counter with blast burn, charizard!" the boy shouted, and the black charizard barely managed to get up as he slammed his own fist into the ground, the flames striking each other at the same time, only to counter each other and fizzed out into nothing._

_The opponents panted, using the moment to calm themselves._

But all you could do is sigh and bite into a candy bar, grumbling underneath your breath as you relived the battle that most, if not everyone in Kalos, saw all over the tv. But now, you've noticed this particular 'epic' battle has reached a strangely global scale.

How irritating.

"_Blaze, use swords dance!" she shouted, her charizard roaring as he slashed his claws and glowing energy swords appeared around him, and she glared across the area, waiting patently for the boy's move._

"… _Charizard, let's start this with a flamethrower!" he shouted, his charizard letting out a roaring fire from his lips, but the girl pointed to the sky._

"_Fly up! Blaze!" she shouted, her charizard flying up high into the sky, easily avoiding the fire as she seemed to be waiting for something._

But for what? You could hear the announcers asking that very question into their microphones, but all you could do is roll your eyes. Only four moves could be used at a time, in an official battle, and the other charizard is quick. So… of course she was waiting.

"_She is toying with us! Fly up into the sky and hit that charizard out of the sky with a thunder punch!" the boy shouted, his charizard roaring and flying up high into the sky, reaching her charizard._

_And then she smirked. "Counter with dragon tail and slam the charizard back down into ground!" she shouted, her hand hitting the ground, again, dramatically as her charizard flipped his tail, letting it glow, before it collided directly into the thunder punch, which caused the charizard to lose its momentum and descend down into the ground. "Quick! Use earthquake! Blaze!" she yelled, her charizard swooping down and practically throwing the other charizard into the ground, as he slammed his foot into the ground._

"_Blast burn!" the boy shouted, in one last attempt to change the situation._

_But… as the dust began to clear…_

_One charizard slumped into the ground, the black and blue coloring disappearing into a normal orange and yellow form of a charizard, while the other remained standing, but his body swayed as if he was close to fainting._

_And then it happened._

_The yelling and the cheering. _

_The girl running up to her charizard as he slipped out of his mega evolution, falling onto his butt, and sighing to himself lowly before he was grabbed by his excited trainer. _

_The sad, yet accepting smile on the boy's face as he praised his charizard's efforts. _

_And the simple handshake that came from both the two trainers, and their two charizards. As crowds cheered and the entire stadium erupted into excitement._

"At least Alain put up a good fight," you mumbled underneath your breath, though honestly you were smiling to yourself. But then your eyes slowly gazed out the window, at the fluffy white clouds and the wingulls you could barely see off in the distance, causing you to sigh tiredly to yourself.

Kalos Champion… the 91st Champion of the Kalos region.

Honestly, this is all you ever wanted. To become a champion. To defeat the championships. To become the best like no one ever was…

But… what now?

You've only been a trainer for, what, maybe four years? Getting close to five? You've been on the road for so long, and…

You kind of want to go home for a while. To recharge your batteries. To get your mind in order.

A lot has happened in that four year span. You've been to three regions, competed in three league challenges, and now you won one of them. But…

You've also defeated two evil teams, hellbent on destroying the world. With the help of your companions, and some nemeses as well, you defeated them. But…

The scars haven't quite healed, yet. Unlike some other friends of yours, you just… can't move on, from this. You haven't spent the time to go over your thoughts, after everything. You brushed your pain and confusion aside. A lot happened and you need to talk to someone about it. Except… it's not like you fully trust anyone. Not really.

But more importantly, you have some business to attend to. After what felt like forever, through your apprenticeship, you've officially received your GED, but since it's from the regional professor, it's practically a diploma. Winning the championship was just an added bonus.

But there's more to do. Reports to write and calls to make, and… life choices to decide upon. Like, what to do with yourself.

You've known from a very young age that being a trainer isn't a way to make a living. Even if you win every battle, your income is being funneled into taking care of your pokemon, keeping yourself alive, and using your expenses to travel the regions. The world. After that, there's still not a lot of savings you have left. Even this flight. It's coming out of your own pockets, at this point. And while this is all fun…

You need to think about your future. And now that you reached your goal… you need to find a new goal. A new challenge to undertake.

And so, as you clicked out of the video of the battle that made you a champion, all you could do is let out a tired sigh. There's a lot of things you could try. Some easy, others not so simple.

You could accept the requests of others and promote your title and image. Be the champion people want you to be. Do battles, show up at events, earn money that way… or try to become a gym leader. By reaching the very top, and even if you had only been runner up, the doors have opened for an easy transition into a gym leader role. Though, most trainers don't ever think about such a thing until they're in their twenties… or even thirties to become permanent gym leaders.

But that would be the easiest route.

You could go back to school. Go to university. Earn a degree in various subjects, mainly something in the sciences… or programming… With science, you already have your connections to a highly acclaimed professor. So, getting work wouldn't be too hard and you just had to spend a few years to get the proper degrees to do so. Programming, well… if there's anything you enjoy, hobby wise, is programming. Namely, hacking. You're a top notch hacker. It even saved you on this particular adventure through Kalos, in fact. Still… being a scientist would earn you some quick money. Programming takes time and energy.

Honestly, you could do just about anything, right now.

But there's one thing you **should** do, at least before you go off and disappear, like you always do.

And that…

Is to apologize.

To make amends with the father that you ran away from and abandoned.

Well… you didn't exactly abandon him, and honestly he kind of abandoned you more then you did to him, but you did leave without saying goodbye. And you haven't been back in the region since you left it. After you argued with him in Sinnoh over the phone, you haven't answered his calls.

And he stopped sending you calls a few months ago.

He probably gave up.

But still… the argument was stupid, and he was right, in more ways then you wanted to admit. You **did** put yourself into danger. You **almost** died. The fact that he was right is what still pisses you off…

But he's your father.

And he's the only family that you have.

So you **should** try to make amends. Even if he doesn't want to see you. You should give it the good old try.


	2. Seeking the Truth 1

**A/N: Hey guys! If you're still reading this, I guess you're enjoying the story? I hope you are!**

**Anyways, there may be some time skips in this story. Though, I'm going to try to write each chapter around the same timeframe/theme. Hopefully this story will pick up later, but I know this female Silver acts differently to the in game/manga Silver. **

**I picked the name 'Silver nestled into Evergreen' as a play on the Viridian City slogan, 'The City of Evergreen'. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to call this story, but considering this story is going to mostly take place in Viridian, at least the first long half of it… yeah! Why not? And you guys should tell me what you'd like to see. More Rocket members? OCs? The city of Viridian, or just the Kanto/Johto area? Do you want to see missions/assignments? Or just characters talking to each other? There's a lot of different ways I can start writing this story. I do have chapters up to 10 already written, so any suggestions will be written after that. **

**But, I doubt I'll be writing about any lemons/sex scenes in this story. Maybe implying it, but nothing too… detailed. Alright! That's about it! You guys ENJOY and hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon enough!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"Hey! Yeah… I'm going to try," you smiled meekly to yourself as you jumped off of your charizard, patting the top of his head as he purred happily at your affection, while you talked to the other person on the phone. "Yes, my 'mons are all healed up and ready to go. I am a bit afraid…

"… Grazie Alex. Just, wish me luck at this point. I'm not sure what to expect," you sighed, returning your attention to your Blaze's nuzzling the top of your head, and you put a hand upon his cheek as you scratched his scaly skin, before you gently nudged him away from you. "Yeah… I mean, he hasn't been at his gym in ages. And what he does, I have no idea. I may just have to track him down.

"Okay… I'll see you soon, okay? Addio, amore mio – What? Too much for you?" you chuckled lightly to yourself. "Fine. Bye," you finished, ending the call and shoving your phone into your messenger bag before you patted your charizard on the head. "Good boy. Have some rest, okay? I'll call on Nina or Cali if I need help. So don't fret."

"Garrrou," he groaned lowly, reluctantly accepting your words, but you sent him back into his pokeball and clipped then clipped it onto your trainer belt.

Then you looked through the thick trees towards the city, or rather the fairly decent town, and you sighed deeply to yourself. Hopefully, this won't be too much work, but you have a feeling this is going to be a long, long trip. A stressful journey, to say the least.

Your father is always the secretive type. He won't tell you much. Just enough that would leave you satisfied, but still asking questions you know he won't answer. He earns money, but you have no idea where it comes from. You think he's a businessman of some sort, but honestly… he could be doing some very shady things. Business you know he doesn't want you sticking your nose into.

But, your first location is the gym. After all, if there is one thing you know, and anyone else knows about your father, is that he's a gym leader. Specifically, the Viridian City gym leader. A mysterious gym leader that is rarely at his gym, these days, so the locals say. Yet, crime in the city is fairly low and everyone lives very normal, decent lives. It's a quiet place, and you recall living here for the longest time. Viridian Forest was your playground, and the city was quaint, but also has a lot of interesting technology. Some, even rivaling Saffron, at times. But that's only because Viridian sits at the foot of Mt. Silver, where the Indigo Plateau is, and where the annual championships for the Kanto/Johto region is held.

Why your region has to share a league with Johto is unknown to your generation. Something that the older people don't clearly talk about… but if you were to guess, it was because of war. And you're not even sure who won. It was more of a stalemate where no side truly won then a war with a winner and loser. It was a truce, and thus the Indigo Plateau was born.

To think, at one moment in your life you wanted to be one of those Elite Four members. The best of the best. Living at the top of the mountain…

How wrong you were.

You saw through your father, and his associates that just happen to be gym leaders too, if not more so through them, just how corrupt the league truly is. Or rather, the true nature of the pokemon league. Of the league council. What their true intentions are.

Still, that didn't stop you to go for your dreams and run off to go on a pokemon journey…

How naïve you once were.

But hey. At least now you have strong 'mons on your team, stronger then any pokemon that had never been trained or barely trained by a human trainer, and you have experience… as well as a title. 'Champion'… You don't even think your father holds such a title. Not really.

But in the records, you're Trainer Sylvia Sakaki. 91st Kalos Champion. From Viridian City, in Kanto.

There's no hiding who you are, now… at least… that's what you'd like to think.

But you know better.

If your father is hiding something, then that means you're hiding something too. And while you wouldn't dare let others know, **you** want to know. **You** want to figure out your father's secrets… and why his secrets are more important then you.

You pushed up your tinted sunglasses, hoping no one would recognize you as 'that Kalos champion' as you walked down the streets, weaving your way through the city as you worked your way towards the gym. But, as you finally reached the gym…

It was obviously closed.

At least from the outside.

"The gym leader hasn't opened the gym today," you heard the voice of an elderly man speak, and you couldn't help but wander over to him, smiling lightly as you did, though your hand was on one of your pokeballs behind your back.

Just in case. You can never be too careful with people who seem to be reading your mind.

"Yes… I expected as much," you responded, sighing to yourself as you used your free hand to scratch the back of your head. "How long has it been?"

"Seven months, at least," the man stated with a broken grin on his face. "You seem quite experienced. Are you looking for your eight badge?"

"No. Though, it's a little late if I was," you continued with a slight smile on your face, trying to act pleasant and sweet towards the man. Even though you wanted to do something else entirely… like try the 'back' way. "I believe the championships for the year have ended, right? And I'm going to have to wait an entire year for the next one."

"Very true. Are you a trainer?" he asked, and you nodded your head.

"Yep. I've been traveling around and I've come home to Viridian, but I should probably get going," you chuckled, giving the man a slight wave of your hand as you began to move away from him. "I need to meet up with my family. I'm sure they're expecting me."

"Of course, dearie. Good luck on your journey!"

"Thank you! You have a good day," you returned, kindly, but you calmly walked away, trying to push back the sigh that wanted to leave your breath as your hand brushed against your hidden pocket knife, feeling the metal against your fingers as you walked.

You're going to have to return later. At night. For now…

You'll get something to eat. There's a restaurant you haven't been to in ages and you cannot wait to see how the owner is doing!

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

You leisurely took your time eating, and luckily the only people that recognized you as 'Champion Silver' was the owner of the restaurant that you ate at, and his family. You spent more time than necessary, also using their bathroom to change out your coat for a baggie black and dark blue hoodie, and after talking to the family for what felt like hours, you thanked them, excused yourself, and was on your way.

The sky was finally dark, though just barely dusk. People still roamed the streets, but most were probably headed home. Viridian wasn't exactly a party city. It was a quaint little place, with only one or two competing shops for every little thing. Two drug stores. One warehouse store. One night club, if you could call it that. Probably just a glamourous bar for the 'younger' people, but one frequently entered bar for just about everyone else, as well. A movie theater. A few independent shops, but you'd have to say the only reason why Viridian has a lot of restaurants and cafés is because of the gym. The gym provides a reason for travelers to show up, but considering its reputation…

You notice rundown buildings, including old houses that have either been abandoned or barely upkept. You can bet that buying a house around here is relatively cheap, for the moment. The small amount of visitors Viridian does have come from the small towns to the south, or people heading west towards the league. Some come to try to take a peek into the gym. To see if the gym leader is as strong as they say, but considering he's rarely there… that doesn't happen frequently enough for tourists to put that as a sightseeing location.

Unless rumors say he's in town.

Rumors in Viridian spread like wild fire. If he's there, you know. Everyone knows. But for how long? No one can say. He'll be there, then vanish.

Because of this secret job he has, that no one but himself seems to know about. At least… that's how you feel, and you wonder how the citizens of Viridian can turn a blind eye to your father, who's supposed to be there in the city. Maybe it's the fact that Viridian is considered one of the more peaceful cities. The most peaceful city in Kanto, rivaling Fuchsia City. Team Rocket are rarely seen in the area, the police rarely have to do too much work except arrests for speeding, and if they are seen they barely go noticed by the general public. In other words, this is the safest place to live in Kanto, at the moment.

So it seems…

It's just that everyone turns a blind eye to the Rockets who you can spot from a mile away. After traveling Kanto and spotting them for yourself, they are very easy to spot. Shifting eyes and hands in pockets. Usually wearing baggy clothes. Always a zipped up jacket, to hide their famous Rocket logo. Pokeballs on their belts, though some weren't even league regulated branded pokeballs. You can tell, just by spotting the blemishes or the fact that the ball has a red 'R' on the lid. It's… obvious.

But as a kid, you were told not to notice and pretended all was fine. It's just fine. Team Rocket isn't here. It's fine.

Just fine.

But you know better… now.

And you also understand these Rockets better, believe it or not. Especially after you left Kanto and traveled around the world, a bit more.

You glanced at the gym blocks away, making sure the building you were hoping was closed down was still that way. Luckily for you, the building still looks rundown and in need of repair, and using an old familiar route, you sneakily rounded your way around the buildings on the block, making your way into the abandoned warehouse, before making your way up the many flights of stairs. Graffiti littered the walls, some familiar, most much newer. But, you smirked at a familiar set of sprayed on graffiti, a few different symbols and signatures that you're the most familiar with. People you know… your own sign.

Yep. It's been a while, hasn't it?

But eventually you reached the roof, only accessible by a four digit keypad and a key. The doorknob, with the right tools, you can pick the lock and open it, but in order to attempt that you need to input the password, which most kids of Viridian know. A secret little hiding spot for anyone trying to run away from home, or rather, a place for kids to hang out when their parents aren't home and looking after them. Yes… you could spend hours on the roof, but that's not why you came here, to this particular location.

So, after inputting the code and easily picking the lock with a long wire, you stepped onto the roof, and was relieved to notice that no one seemed to be there. However, the place did look like it was being used, currently, by someone. A popup tent was on the roof, but also stringed lights that could be turned on by plugging it into an old circuit breaker, and an old wooden table with several mismatched chairs around it. Birds roosted on top of this building, but you barely gave them any notice.

Except for one. A honchkrow… but no. That couldn't be your father's… right?

Either way, you barely gave the rigged up area a second glance as you walked around towards the edge of the roof, looking down and spotting a fire escape. You calmly slipped down, careful to not make too much noise, and then you jumped onto the slippery old metal railing, gripping it in the same way your greninja would grab at the ground when she was about to jump, which you were going to.

When you first did this, you were ten times smaller. A scared little pipsqueak who almost fell to her death to the concrete alley below. Luckily, you had considerable arm strength, so you didn't plummet to your death… luckily, but now a days this leap is fairly easy. You had to always calculate the distance, second guess yourself, but as you stood and leapt, several stories over the ground, and reaching out to grab a ledge that lead into one of the windows, in the gym, you let out a held in breath before your feet found a familiar groove, and you began to shuffle your way across the side of the building, towards a familiar spot.

A particular small, but broken window. Something no one had noticed, when you were a child, and hopefully it hasn't been fixed. With a bit of prying, you could open the window and slip into the building. It wasn't the top floor, but it did lead to a bathroom, and after taking some stairs, you can reach your destination without too many problems. Granted, you could just try to scale the building to reach the top, but how the gym is designed even you would have problems reaching some areas. Even now that you're all grown up and a lot longer then you were the first time you tried to break into this place.

After all, your father never gave you a key. You'd have to use the front door, like anyone else, but of course you'd be turned away. Told your father isn't there. And the only one who could vouch that you're the gym leader's kid was the secretary. No one else.

No one else knew that you were his daughter, and that's how it was supposed to be. You kept your mouth shut, and she always helped you. Reassuring you, giving you the number he'd use to call you when he wasn't too busy… It caused you to have a lot of extra free time, but also a very lonely childhood.

A big reason why you wanted to leave home. Because he was never home. Not really.

You sighed to yourself, glad that, yes, the window you were hoping was broken still was, and after slipping the blade of your pocket knife underneath the window, you pushed it open, just slightly, before pocketing the knife and then looking through the crack in the window.

No one seemed to be occupying the bathroom, like usual.

Good.

No one tends to. It's the men's bathroom, but most use the bathrooms downstairs. Since there are the nicer bathrooms at the top level, and the bathrooms for the public below, you rarely see someone using this bathroom when you're trying to get in. And even so, they usually don't spot you.

Usually. If you're lucky.

That's the one time this window had been fixed.

But anyways, noticing the coast was clear, and you couldn't hear anyone outside the bathroom doors, you hope, you slowly pushed up the window, then shoved it open the last half length, giving yourself enough room to slip inside. If you were a guy, this wouldn't work. At some point, you'd be too fat to fit through, but you're naturally a skinny person, and a woman no less. Except for your butt, perhaps, and your boobs… but with a bit of wiggling, you slipped through the window, gracefully rolling onto the floor and breaking your fall by rolling onto your arms and shoulders.

You sighed, lying on the floor of the men's bathroom, staring up at the ceiling for a good solid minute before you stood up, closed the window, but not locked it. Of course. If you get spotted this could be a way to escape, without being seen. And if not, you'll have to suffer the consequences of getting caught.

Carefully, you tiptoed to the bathroom's door, pressing your ear up against the door in hopes that you didn't hear a noise. You heard a machine… which you assume is the janitor, but nothing else. No voices, no footsteps. Nothing. You slowly opened the door, careful to not make a noise, and you slowly let the door close without a noise, before you slipped to the wall and peeked around. Looking back and forth.

Nothing.

With a satisfied smirk you snuck around the wall, keeping close to the shadows as you made your way through the building. You probably look very shady right now, with your hood upon your head, and hand gracing your hidden knives and handgun every so often. But luckily, no one noticed you by the time you reached the stairs, and when you carefully opened the door and stepped inside, you let out a slightly relieved sigh.

Rarely anyone uses stairs, these days. Most use elevators, and that's something that hasn't changed since you first began to sneak into this particular building. Maybe people think it's faster… but either way, that just makes your job easier. Sure, there are cameras, but if you're caught you'll explain yourself.

You just want to figure out where your father is.

So, you ascended the steps. A few quick and deliberate steps at a time, and you took your time. You made sure no one opened a door, or you can hear footsteps. Luckily, nothing, and by the time you reached the top of the steps the only lights that were on came from dimmed lights, kept on due to security reasons. But you were careful, making sure the door didn't slam behind you, before looking around, making sure the coast was clear, and sneaking through.

You went to the only spot in this building you know could give you a lead to your father. And, after noticing that even the secretary had left, and watching the security guard passing by, which gave you about three minutes to sneak your way inside without getting caught, you crept down, shuffling your way underneath her desk, and you paused to take a breath. You began to prepare your tools, knowing that it'll be harder to sneak into then the rundown building, and once you had your personalized machine on, a picklock, and a knife in your back pocket, you waited for the next guard to pass by… before you snuck your way to the large doors and pressed your brick of a machine against the hand pad.

After hooking up the machine, you waited for the pad to start glowing, and then you put your hand on top of the pad. It instantly turned green and dinged, and with a quick motion you caught the door with your foot, unhooking your machine, and slipped past the door, gently closing the door behind you.

You crouched down, turning off your machine as you waited for the next guard to pass. If you were successful, no one will come to the door, and if you weren't then that guard will simply pass. After waiting for what felt like eternity, the next guard passed you by, and slowly you crawled across the carpeted floor, slowly sitting into the large leather business chair to let out a tired sigh. At this point, you're practically home free. As long as the guards don't catch on that you're in here, through the door, and if you keep the lights to a minimum, hopefully you'll go unnoticed.

But, you already know what you're looking for, and after slipping a familiar black and dark blue flash drive from your pocket, you turned on the computer, waiting for it to boot up, and after using a password that, yes, worked, you inserted the flash drive into a port. In an instant, a porygon2 showed up onto the screen. Though, its body looked a bit cracked, and it had a half crescent gengar mask on the side of its face, hiding a large scar that went along its eye.

But you gave the little guy a smile, causing the porygon2 to chirp and flip around the desktop background excitedly, but you put a hand to your lips. You typed onto the keypad, bringing up a side screen with a set of codes along the side, and you began, with , '_Ghost. Let's be quick._

'_I need you to find out where my father is._

'_Giovanni._

'_Giovanni Sakaki._

'_The gym leader of Viridian City._

'_Find his location quickly.'_

With another chirp, your porygon2 slipped into the computer, and you watched as the screen turned from normal, to black, white, and green, and you watched as various cryptic code flashed through the screen, scrolling through the files, and you glanced to the door, making sure no one was outside, and listening to hear if something was wrong, before you went back to staring at your porygon2.

But before you decided to turn off the screen so the light wouldn't attract anyone to the door, you glanced to the screen to notice your porygon2 had turned the screen back to normal, and was specifically pointing to a particular source of code. After copying it, you clicked on a particular software on the desktop that your porygon2 pointed to, and once you opened it, Ghost brought up some more code, and you pasted the saved code and waited.

Again.

But you didn't wait for long.

In a matter of seconds, you saw what you were looking for. "… Sinnoh. Are you sure?" you thought aloud, kind of knowing that your porygon could hear you, but if you didn't type your question it would only hear broken static instead. With a sigh, you brought up the same box you used to type to your porygon2, and you continued, _'Sinnoh. Are you sure?_

'_Giovanni Sakaki is in Sinnoh?'_

You watched your porygon2 shake its head, before a response was made, in light purple. _**'No, Giovanni Sakaki.**_

'_**Yes, Giovanni.**_

'_**Yes, the gym leader of Viridian City.'**_

You pouted. Why didn't Ghost catch Giovanni Sakaki? Is… that not his real name?

Then who is your father? Really?

With a sigh, you typed in response, _'When did he go to Sinnoh?_

'_When will he be coming back?_

'_Where in Sinnoh is he?'_

'_**17 days.**_

'_**Unclear.**_

'_**Unclear.'**_

You pouted. Well… this makes it awkward, and so you sighed in defeat. So, he's been gone for more then two weeks, and if he's coming back to Kanto anytime soon is a mystery.

At least you know. That, in itself, is a victory.

But this still didn't make you any happier, and you still have no idea where he could be or if you'll see him anytime soon… Maybe you'll just cut your losses and try again later. _'Clean up, Ghost,'_ you ordered your porygon, watching as the blue, red, and purple 'mon disappeared, the screen flashing and shutting off, only to turn back on and the normal desktop was back, with everything in tact. At if you hadn't been here. Perfect.

With a smirk and a thumbs up, with your porygon2 returned, you grabbed your flash drive, first pressing a particular button to warn Ghost that you were taking out the drive, and once it said that it was safe to take out your flash drive, with Ghost disappearing from sight, you pulled it out, pocketed your flash drive, and turned off the computer.

You made sure to put everything back in order, including where the chair was turned, before you snuck your way back to the door, and listened.

You waited, staring at a clock that you know that is in the room and waited three minutes… then four… then five…

Where is the security guard?

You bit down on your bottom lip, hoping you hadn't been caught, or at the very least, they thought nothing was happening tonight and are instead being lazy. Hopefully that's the case. You waited a good solid ten minutes before opening the door, carefully, slipping out of your father's office and making your way underneath the secretary's desk. And when you heard absolutely nothing… you peeked around, making sure no one was around to spot you, down the corridors and around the corners, before sneaking out of the desk and slipping your way against the wall, and against the shadows.

It was oddly… quiet, and you couldn't help but reach for your gun, deciding that was the best thing to take in a place like this, and as if your instincts warned you ahead of time, something jumped out of the shadows before you could reach the stairs, pinning you down to the ground. "Get off!" you shouted, holding the gun up to the man's temple, only for your hold on the gun to falter, but you kept it there, glaring up at the man who had almost pinned you.

Almost, because you had one leg wrapped around his, to flip him over, and you would have flipped him if it wasn't for the gun you now had against his temple. "Lady Sylvia," he spoke, gently removing his tight grip around you, but he stayed hovered over you, while you glared up at dark brown eyes and he calmly stared at your silver gaze. "You could have simply knocked."

"You know that wouldn't be very effective," you responded, keeping the gun against his head, "and could you please get off of me, Koga? Sensei?"

With a sigh he did as you requested, and you staggered to your feet, gun still in hand, as you frantically looked around to make sure nothing was coming your way. "I dismissed the guards. Told them I'd take care of the intruder. You're gotten better, Lady Sylvia," he continued, and he smiled a smile you wish you'd see on your father. Pure approval. "You went unnoticed until you began to hack into the gym leader's computer."

"R-right… Look, I don't want any trouble –"

"Why are you here? What information do you want?" he asked, bluntly, but he watched as you sighed and slowly put your gun into your pocket, but first you made sure you had the safety back on before doing so.

"I'm looking for him. That's all."

"Why?"

"Why?... Let's just say I made a stupid mistake," you decided to say, rubbing the back of your neck as you sighed tiredly, "and if I'm going to apologize, I'm not doing it over the phone. I want to talk to him in person… but more importantly, I want to find out what he's been hiding from me, for years now," you stated, giving the man a hard glare as you continued with a scoff. "And what is an Elite Four member doing in a gym without a gym leader?"

"Former Elite Four," he stated, and you gave him a curious look as he continued with a light smirk, "and I was going to… I'm doing something for your father. An errand."

"Oh –"

"Are you **sure** you want to uncover those secrets, child? If you do, there's no turning back –"

"I know. And I want to. I decided that, in order to move forward in my life, I need to do a few things. And one of those things is apologizing, and secondly, find out what my father does for a living. Yes, he's a gym leader. A beloved man by the city, but his income comes from a different source. That much, I know, and I won't leave this alone until I get my answers," you stated, bluntly, knowing Koga wanted to do everything in his power to deter you from looking.

But you were surprised when he simply sighed, shaking his head, but he smirked to himself. "I assumed this day would come.

"Fine."

"Fine? –"

"I will show you how to find your father, but once you agree there's no going back. Is that what you want?"

"… Yes," you answered, obviously hesitantly, but the tone the man used was rather unnerving. As if, if you find out now, you'll never be the same person again. Well… you've changed a lot already. What else could change you, at this point. "I want to know," you continued a bit more confidently, and with a nod he slipped his long red scarf over his nose, covering his face, and he walked away, expecting you to follow.

And of course, you followed him, but you kept a hand on a hidden knife, just in case. He may be your sensei, and a man even your father trusts, but that doesn't mean **you** should trust him. Enough people in your life have betrayed you. You cannot be too careful.

You've learned that the hard way, and you don't want to make the same mistake over and over again.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

_Grazie_ [Italian] – thanks/thank you

_addio amore mio_ [Italian] – goodbye my love


	3. Seeking the Truth 2

**A/N: HEY GUYS! I would have posted this chapter earlier, but I was tired after work yesterday and went to sleep. And today, I was out with a friend. So, I didn't have time.**

**But here we are!**

**For the record, I had started a story similar to this before. But… I didn't like how long it took Silver to get to the Team Rocket base. So in this story, I quickened the process. Instead of… like, 3-4 chapters, it's only 2. Koga just makes this easier.**

**Okay! That's about it. I'll let you guys get back to the story now. ENJOY!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"Stay close," you heard Koga warn you, and of course you kept your mouth shut and obeyed. After all, this is your chance. Even if you're walking into a trap, you at least know your father is in Sinnoh, and you could return to Sinnoh to find him… and if this isn't a trap, then you'll see your father soon, right?

Right?

But, you watched as Koga talked to various people, and slowly you noticed… that they all had some sort of crimson red 'R' on their person. If it be hidden or in plain sight. And the moment you went below the gym…

It was a top secret Team Rocket base, isn't it?

What has your father been hiding from you, all this time?!

But, you didn't let your frustrations shine through too much. You simply observed, while in your mind you were internally screaming for being so blind. Did your father get tricked? Does your father owe the boss of Team Rocket money, or something like that? Or… is he a higher up? Always been a part of the team… a bad guy? A criminal?

You tried not to look distort, but the more you followed Koga, the more you felt… stupid. So, so stupid. You caught on, though, that the 'boss' will be back soon enough, cleaning up a mess in Sinnoh. So… your father went to Sinnoh, to 'clean up' something, you're guessing. What does this boss have on him? On you? Is that why your life was threatened so much in Sinnoh, in the first place?

So many questions… and no answers…

Eventually Koga led you to a car, which you recognized to be his, and after ushering you inside, with a stack of paperwork, he sat in the driver's seat and took off down the road. "… How are you feeling, child?"

"Betrayed," you responded, simply, and he sighed to himself.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure your father wanted to keep Team Rocket away from you, as much as possible –"

"I mean, Koga, Team Rocket is a criminal organization. And you and my dad are a part of that. How am I **supposed** to feel?" you scoffed. "I spent so much time trying to save citizens from these types of groups, and here I see my own dad is a Team Rocket member? A criminal? **Should** I be happy about this?"

"… Life is a lot more complicated then you wish it could be, child. If I could, I wouldn't even bother with such a thing, but your father… I am loyal to your father, and what he does. And if he explains himself, then that'll just have to be enough," he told you, pausing for a moment before continuing, "but understand that he doesn't want to hurt you. He didn't do any of this to hurt you."

"Yes, but he's abandoned me. Just, how long as he been a Rocket guy? All my life?" you huffed, shaking your head and sighing tiredly. "This is just a lot to take in, right now."

"Then I'll apologize another time. After I drop you off I will have to leave you," he told you, causing you to look over at him with a glare in your eyes as he continued, "but if you need my assistance, you know how to contact me. I'll be leaving you in good hands. But, I advise you to stay low and don't attract attention."

"If you say so," you mumbled in irritation, your eyes gazing out the window as Viridian seemed to slip further and further away, and the city lights turned into darkness. You realized you were making your way into Viridian Forest, down unmarked dirt paths, which made you wonder where he was leading you.

Hopefully not to your own death.

But you could tell that the man was concentrating on the road, and not on you. On avoiding little crawling critters then the irritable, but tired look in your eyes. Your eyes watched the clock, watching time pass, but slowly… you felt your eyes growing heavy… until you felt the car come to a jolting stop, causing you to snap open your eyes, and notice something in the distance.

Over a ridge, in the canyon, stood an unnatural skyscraper building, and as Koga continued further down the road, and over a bend, you noticed a giant red 'R' on the front, indicating that this building is a Team Rocket building. A base, you're going to assume, by the size and scale of the building. The fact that it's hidden in the middle of nowhere, far beyond any paths and trails a normal person would take. Not something a normal hiker would stumble into… or you ever did. You cannot believe this.

Team Rocket was in your backyard, basically. Just, how far away are they from your father's manor? The family estate? How interwoven is your father in this team, anyways?

The boss must have a lot of dirt on the man… or at the very least, he supports Team Rocket in some way. Maybe a business proposition? Security? Perhaps that's why Rockets were all over the gym, in the first place.

You sighed to yourself. This is a lot to work out, in your mind. And, you're not looking forward to spending the night, there. You had your own thoughts of when and how you'd be at a Team Rocket base like this… **not** here to find out about your father. That's for sure. Maybe in handcuffs and your pokemon taken away from you… or you'd be shown to one room or another and told to work. Not like this.

But, you let Koga do all the work. Talking with the guards, even as they gave a suspicious look towards the kid dressed in black with a hood on her head, hiding most of her face from view. The man flashing an obvious Rocket ID at people as he walked by, talking to one person or another in a strict, yet casual manner. As casual as it can be with Koga, that is. Everything is a serious matter, when it comes to this man, and you could tell he was keeping his words to a minimum so the two of you could pass through, quickly.

All you could figure out is that you were being shown to a man named 'Archer'. Could that be the big bad boss of Team Rocket?

Even as you encountered them in Kanto, and regions far beyond your home region, you still haven't figured out who the boss is. He's shrouded in mystery… and yes, he's a guy. That much, you can figure out. Apparently, from what you've learned over the years, only the executives are allowed to call the boss by name, and admins have met the man in person. If he doesn't disclose his name, then you aren't allowed to know, and if you do know then there's a problem. A big, big problem.

There are rumors that the Interpol know who he is. Has a name, an identity, but hasn't disclosed it to the general public. Like any crime boss, they want to have enough dirt on him or let him slip before a conviction. Their work is to bring justice and send the unjust to prison. Not kill them.

But you wouldn't be surprised if there are hidden agencies that work towards murder. Who want to end the lives of those who are 'unjust', or at least unjust towards the law… or the government, in particular. Honestly, the International Police, no matter how annoying they can be, at least they aren't as terrible as some other agencies you've had to deal with. Heck, if there was any agency you'd ever want to join, it'd be Interpol. They're a lot more independent then what most give them credit for, and they truly do work towards a just world. A peaceful world, at least. There isn't as much corruption in that agency as others you've encountered.

But you know your boyfriend would hate it if you joined a government agency. Heck, he'd probably try to get you to spill the beans on top secret information, if you did, in the same way that you try to get him to talk about his top secret missions. It just won't work out, after that. You'd have to break up your relationship if that was the case.

Luckily for you, you don't have to worry about him right now. He's still in Kalos, and probably won't be in Kanto for a while. But, when he does come back… this is going to be an interesting thing to talk about. That's for sure.

You couldn't stop your smirk as Koga had you both take the stairs, avoiding the traffic of the elevator, and you couldn't help but notice that the base, even at night, was very active. Something must be happening in the team, that's for sure, for a massive group of the Rockets that live here to be moving about. After all, it's almost midnight, at this point. Sure, you understand the security is on high alert, but for grunts and agents to obviously be roaming the hallways, the lights dimmed, but no one was really asleep? You couldn't help but be curious… but now wasn't the time to ask questions.

Later, yes. Now, not yet.

"If you want," you heard Koga begin as you both continued up the steps, "you can turn back now. If being here bothers you –"

"Sensei, I've already come this far. I can't leave a mystery unsolved, like this. Besides, who is this Archer? The boss of Team Rocket?" you asked, but you let out a huff as you heard the man let out a slight chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. You're amusing, child, but no. Archer is very close to the boss, but not the boss of the team. He is what you'd call an executive," he explained, but before you could ask another question he continued, "and he's currently in charge of this Kanto base. Until the boss gets back. After all, someone needs to stay behind to handle the day by day affairs, and Archer is usually the man to do it."

"Do you know him?" you asked in a curious tone, but the former gym leader, former elite four member, apparently, simply sighed in response.

"Not really. But, your father trusts the man. And he's been by your father's side, when I couldn't be there. Since I have a public image and have to pay the role of gym leader, train my own daughter and such, I don't have time to deal with Rocket affairs, anymore."

"Anymore?" you asked in a curious tone, but the man grew silent, but that didn't stop you from asking another question. "How many years have you been associated with the team, Koga? And my father? D-did you agree to train me just because of my father? Or the team?"

"I trained you because of your father, and your family. Not the team. That had nothing to do with this team," he scoffed at your question. "And… years. Many years. The same with your father. I joined around the same time as he did… and trust me, child. He wasn't thrilled to join in the same way you must feel, right now. But, that choice will always be yours," he continued, pausing to give you a glance over his shoulder, before continuing up the stairs. "To join or not to join. You don't have to involve yourself in Team Rocket at all. Being a part of the team, a criminal, was your father's decision. You have your own accomplishments. Your own merits. This lifestyle doesn't have to be yours at all."

"Well… if you say so –"

"I know so. That's why your father never told you," he continued, pausing for a moment before letting out a tired sigh. "If your father had his way, you would never learn about his involvement with Team Rocket, but considering you've come this far, there's no turning back. Just know that if you want to leave, for any reason, you can give me a call. I'll have someone pick you up," he told you, but you smirked at his words.

"Thanks, but I know how to run away," you responded, causing the man to let out a slight scoff, but you continued to smirk to yourself at your terrible joke.

But the smile faded from your face when you reached the top of the stairs, and this particular level was a lot quieter then the lower levels, but certainly just as noisy. You could hear the stomping of boots upon the tiled floor as people ran to and fro, passing the both of you by without a single glance. Grunts carrying paperwork, agents looking tired and irritable. Everyone was on edge.

You wonder what happened in Sinnoh…

Maybe you should look at the news after this is all over and you have a moment to breathe.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

You watched as Koga knocked on a door labeled 'EXECUTIVE ARCHER' in bold gold lettering, and after a grumbling 'come in' you both walked in, though you stayed by the door as the door shut behind you, and Koga walked straight up to the man's desk, setting down some paperwork he had been lugging around in his arm since you both left the car, and waited patiently for the man to finally acknowledge the two of you.

He was a man, probably younger then Koga, but not by much. He had short teal hair, and bright blue teal eyes, his gaze glancing to Koga, then towards you, and then back to Koga before he sighed deeply and set down the pen he had gripped in his hand. "Mr. Kyo. What is the meaning of this? When you said daughter I wasn't expecting –"

"I decided that it was best that she came here, herself. I'm sure the girl would find her way here, regardless of my help. This way, you wouldn't be arresting her and making your boss mad," the man responded, causing you to glance at the two men with a curious gaze.

Why would the boss care about you? What does the boss of Team Rocket have to do with this conversation?

"I'll be placing her in your care, until her father returns," Koga continued, gesturing for you to walk over, and you obediently did so. "Sylvia, this is Executive Archer. The boss of Team Rocket's right hand man, at least as much as I understand it to be. And this is –"

"Sylvia Sakaki," you interrupted the man, holding out your hand as the teal haired man eyed you suspiciously, but he calmly stood to his feet and shook your hand, rather roughly, but you returned his firm handshake with your own, "but you may call me Silver. In fact, call me Silver. Or Sakaki. Whichever one you're comfortable with."

"If you insist," Archer responded, letting go of your hand, but he turned his attention back to Koga. "Thank you for the paperwork. Is the report included?"

"Yes –"

"The boss will be pleased. I'll send him the information within the hour. You can head out, if you like, and you," he continued, his gaze now falling on you, and probably knowing that the man wasn't going to leave if he didn't give some sort of instruction towards you, "Miss… Sakaki," he decided to say, pausing for a moment before sighing, leafing through the new papers he had received, and he separated them from the rest of the paperwork and placed them in front of himself on the desk. "Ms. Sakaki, if you could be patient. I need to send this work to the boss as quickly as possible, and then I'll show you to your room."

"Room?" you questioned him, but before you could continue Archer responded.

"Your father has his own room, here at this base," he began, giving Koga a look and you noticed the man gave him a nod, and with an exhausted sigh he continued. "You can stay there until he returns. I would advise that you don't wander the base. If you don't have certain clearance you won't be able to pass through certain check points and will be questioned. Let's just say I want to keep your… existence here quiet. For the sake of everyone involved.

"Considering your father, and the fact that you're a recently proclaimed champion. We wouldn't want to ruin your reputation, now would we?"

"Doesn't bother me, but I see your point," you responded, but quickly continued, "but, if you're keeping me prisoner," you spoke, but you held up a finger before he could counter your claim, "you're not going to take my devises away, are you? And can I contact people on the outside? While you may have your precious work, I have some of my own work to deal with," you stated, and you watched as the two men exchanged glances, but Archer smirked at you and slumped back down into his seat.

"Of course. As long as your work doesn't jeopardize Team Rocket. May I ask what sort of work? –"

"Well, to make it simple, being a champion isn't easy," you scoffed, "and, I'm also an assistant to a professor. I have to write up a report and send it to him, as well as answer phone calls. I've ignored most phone calls since I've left Kalos and made my way back home to Kanto. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all. As long as you don't talk about Team Rocket –"

"Great. And, if I could have your internet connection, that'd be swell," you continued, but you heard a slight snicker from Koga, causing you to turn and look over at him. "Is something funny?"

"Nothing. You're an amusing child. You're acting more like your father every day, Sylvia," he responded, but you gave him a pout and shook your head, scoffing before you turned back to Archer.

"Anyways, if that's enough to satisfy your curiosity, can we get on with it?"

"If you wish," Archer responded, giving Koga a nod, before he began to leaf through the pile of paperwork, picking up his pen, while Koga walked over to you and gave you a hug. Which kind of surprised you, but you let the man hug you as he whispered into your ear.

"Don't forget. If you need any help, in any way, don't be afraid to contact me."

"Thank you, sensei. Really. For everything," you responded, letting the man hug you, and as he let go and smiled kindly to you, he gave Archer one last harsh look before leaving the office, leaving an unsettling air between the two of you.

Cautiously, you sat down in a chair in the corner of the room, watching the man work silently on his task while you watched him, your eyes beginning to wander around the room as you took everything in. His room was a decent size, for the office of an executive. A typical size for a CEO member of a company, or maybe the size of a typical meeting room in an office building. There was a bookshelf, filled with business and accounting books that seem to be a bit outdated, but mostly filled with random trinkets and items that probably fostered the man's tastes. You noticed a clock, above the door, ticking away past midnight, and above the man's head was a landscape oil painting of houndoom. A pack of houndoom, you assume, with two long horned houndoom about to attack one another.

Interesting choice for décor.

And, you noticed a soft pokemon bed on the ground. Black and red and rather basic, but it complimented the room… and almost went unnoticed.

You wonder what sort of pokemon this man keeps. Probably a houndoom, but you wonder what else the man may be raising… if he has more then one 'mon. Probably dark types. That'd be typical of Rocket members, but maybe fire types, as well?

You don't know how long you sat there, pondering everything, wondering if you should start leafing through your phone and answering unopened messages, but before you could think about doing that and make yourself comfortable, you watched as the man let out a sigh, calmly standing up, and turning off his computer almost all at the same time. "Thank you for your patience, Ms. Sakaki. We're just about done. I have to hand this work over to someone, and then we'll be off."

"Should I follow –"

"No… Yes, I mean," he decided to say, noticing the suspicious look on your face as he continued, and he reached for a bag, taking out a pair of keys, and slipping them into his pocket before he shoved the papers into his black bag. "By the way, I will give you an official Rocket ID card, but that won't be till tomorrow. Until then, either I or one of the executives will be visiting you and giving you food to eat. I'm sure the – your father has food stashed away in his kitchen space. You can have your fill, I'm sure. If you're hungry –"

"I'm not hungry right now. Thank you," you told him, and he nodded as he finished organizing his things, before gesturing you to follow him. You made sure your hood was on you head before you followed after him, noticing the man walking with a sense of confidence while you calmly followed behind him.

"There is a house phone in the apartment space, as well as a few key emergency buttons to press. I'll show you around the apartment, and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask me. I'll give you my number if you need to contact me directly, but understand that this is a place of business, Ms. Sakaki. Don't call unless it's an emergency."

"I'll keep that in mind," you agreed, letting the man lead you down the long narrow hallways, and noticing various Rockets parting as you both passed. As if they were afraid of the man.

Well, at least they were so afraid that they didn't bother to give you a second glance. Maybe this man has done this with others? Maybe luring them into a false sense of security, or maybe this sort of 'formality' is only used for potential recruits? Promising recruits? Either way, you doubt you'd be joining, anytime soon. At least, you don't have time.

Not for another few months, at least. If you don't decide to do something else with your life, after you're done dealing with all this 'champion' responsibilities.

At least you're not the official reigning Champion of a region. **That** would make this ten times worse. That's for sure.


	4. Seeking the Truth 3

**A/N: HEY GUYS! I was going to post sooner, but I was feeling exhausted lately and a lot of things happened in my life all at once. But now, I'll post at least this chapter and maybe one more. Hopefully I can back into posting some more chapters.**

**There is a reason why I also added Giratina as one of the characters, instead of, well, Cyrus, Cynthia, or OC. I was thinking of adding one of the other three, and I like having as many characters as possible. I could have done someone else, like Jessie or James or Meowth, maybe, but I think Giratina would be better for the plot. Honestly. Though, I may not go into WHY, but we'll see how much I write in this story.**

**I want to keep this story rather lighthearted. Not too in depth about pokelore or dramatic, over the top scenes. I mean, if I wanted to write something like that I'd have Silver off on a journey, but there's a reason why she's not on a journey, anymore. She's taking time for herself.**

**And if you guys want to COMMENT on WHAT you think she would end up doing at the end of this story, don't be afraid to leave comments! Do you like the idea of her being a hacker? Or working at Team Rocket? Or for the government? A gym leader or maybe a business lady? Well, there's a lot of choices, but to me, I doubt pokemon trainer makes a lot of money. There's a reason why trainers eventually become breeders or rangers, or something along those lines. Something other than just battles.**

**Okay. I think that's all I wanted to say. SEE YOU GUYS LATER!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

A deep throated yawn left your breath as you slowly opened your eyes and glanced over at an alarm clock sitting on a nightstand, by the bed. It was '8:52' in the morning… huh. You feel that it must be later, but whatever. You checked your phone to make sure, and yep. It's almost nine o'clock in the morning.

But then again, you had trouble sleeping in the first place, and the idea of being caught off guard was putting you on edge.

At least now you can do some snooping.

With a sigh you slowly slipped out of bed, still wearing your tank top shirt from yesterday and a pair of warm, clean pajama pants so you wouldn't be sleeping in your own filth. If you remember correctly… Archer told you that food would be delivered to your room. When, you have no idea, so instead of waiting around, you decided to take a much needed shower, something you probably haven't done in a couple of days… a few days, and you scrubbed to make sure the dirt and grime was gone before you changed into a fairly casual and simple outfit.

A pair of dark gray hiking pants, which weren't as disgusting as your jeans, a black tank top, and a soft, warm jacket with a hood attached to the back. A warm jacket that you tend to wear in the cold, to sleep in, and the perfect comfort jacket as you took your bag and your trainer belt into the living room space, sitting down onto the long couch, and you let out an exhausted sigh.

Ah yes. This is going to be another long day. You can feel it in your bones. While Archer did show you around the apartment, a tad, he left you to your own devises in a matter of minutes, leaving you all alone. You did some snooping, but honestly you were too tired from your long trip to care, anymore. The adrenaline of the days leading up to now were exhausting. And now… you need to face reality, now that you have nothing better to do. You had a lot to go through.

Emails, messages, and text messages. Scheduled group chats that you've been ignoring… and work. So much work. People think becoming a champion is easy… but they're far from wrong. This is going to take you a good few days to go through all the old stuff, and who knows who'll call you in the meantime?

With a sigh you took out your portable laptop, with a large sticker of a silver ninetales on the front, and a small set of stickers of a gengar, the pokemon league symbol, and a small charmander, you walked over to a nearby plug in to hook up your laptop, and once that was done you set it down on the coffee table as you waited for your laptop to turn on. With another tired sigh, you glanced to your trainer belt, deciding who wouldn't be too much of a pain, and with an affectionate smile you unclipped a pokeball, throwing it up into the air, releasing the 'mon, and easily catching the ball and placing it onto the table. "Hey Nina," you spoke to your greninja, giving her a light smile as she gazed curiously around the room. "We're going to be here for a while.

"But don't worry. We're not trapped here or anything like that. This is my dad's place," you explained, pausing for a moment before continuing, "but you're small enough to stretch your legs. So go ahead and roam. Just don't break anything, put everything back that you touch, and if you find something interesting don't be afraid to show me. I haven't had time to explore."

"Graa," she responded, nuzzling against you before jumping away and looking around the living room, before jumping into the kitchen, and you smirked at her curiosity before you looked back to your laptop, typing in your password before taking out your flash drive, and placing your porygon2 into the computer before you got to work.

You had a few phones placed onto the table, some plugged into the wall and charging, and others you were looking through, while you also connected to the internet connection Archer gave you, as you looked at the news. Particularly, the Sinnoh news. Nothing out of the ordinary… actually. Nothing about Team Rocket or even former Team Galactic… either the media hasn't caught on to what's going on behind the scenes… or this is something you aren't going to figure out, right now.

So, you moved on to different problems.

You left calls to people who have contacted you, particularly the Kalos League, Champion Diantha, and the regional professor, Sycamore. You talked to Interpol about Team Flare, only talking about the bare minimum, but also apologizing for leaving as quickly as you did, after the championships. After all, they wanted you to answer questions… but you left before they could catch you. Either way, you did tell them about Lysandre. That he may or may not be alive, anymore. How you, with a group of other trainers, disabled their machines and saved Kalos from destruction. How the team had ran off to places, unknown.

And that they should probably talk to the famous Oak's grandson, Gary. You're sure he's still there, and if they truly need help capturing the thugs, he's the man to do it.

"Yes. Gary Oak. We are both helping with Professor Oak's research on mega evolution… Yes. And Sycamore as well. Looker, look. I know you have a lot of work to do, but so do I. If there's anything else… I don't know. Thank you for the offer though," you smiled meekly, before letting out a sigh. "What sort of pay would I get?... Hmm… I mean, even the Indigo council wants to offer me something, and considering my dad is already a gym leader… Yeah. Uh huh… I may go back to school, actually. I have my GED, now. It's about time I start thinking about my future," you told him, but the man's response caused you to let out a light chuckle. "Maybe. Criminal justice, eh?... I'll think about it, sir –" but before you could fully finish your sentence, you heard a knock at the door, and you sighed to yourself.

"If you excuse me," you continued, holding out a hand to your greninja to stop her from answering the door for you, "I have some other business to attend to… Yes. Thank you. I'll call you if I remember anything else. In fact, I'll probably send something to your agency about Team Flare," you told them as you stood up and made your way to the door. "Right… okay. Thank you. Goodbye, Agent Looker," you finished, ending the call with a click on the phone, and pocketing the phone as you reached the door and looked through the peephole.

You gave the figure you could see a weary look, considering the man wasn't Archer, obviously, but you sighed, giving Nina a slight nod to prepare herself, and you calmly opened the door, while you had a hand on a pocket knife that you slipped out of your back pocket and held behind you back. "Hello?"

"Holy Mew. Silver, you've grown so tall!" the man laughed, suddenly grabbing you in a tight hug, but you retaliated by scoffing and shoving him away, rather forcefully.

"Do we know each other?" you huffed, but his smile fell into a slight line.

"You don't remember your old babysitter? Well, it was years ago," he scoffed, carting in a cart full of food, which smelled heavenly, but you gave him a weary glance as he made his way into the apartment, letting the door close behind him. "You were, what, maybe three? Four?

"Anyways, kid. The name is Petrel. Executive Petrel. Archer spilled the beans and told us that you're here for your father."

"Y-yeah… that's why," you responded, but he cast you a smirk before he placed the food on the dining table, and you gave your greninja a glance while she looked hungerly at the food, but then cast the man a cautious glare, as well. "So, Archer sent you, huh? Do you have any idea when my father will be back?"

"I'd say… a week's wait, at least. Don't worry. I volunteered to watch you, but that's only because I can get out of work," he responded, but you rolled your eyes at him.

"Seriously? **That's** why –"

"Yep. Now, the cook made a bunch of food for us. So let's eat."

"You're eating with me? –"

"Sure kid. You honestly expect that Archer to let you do things on your own? If I'm not watching you kid, then someone else would be. Take it or leave it," he shrugged, but you watched him wearily as he revealed some of the food, licking his lips as he did so. "That Tanner. Always making the best food! Get some plates, will you?"

"Ah… sure," you responded, staring at him wearily while you walked into the kitchen, opening up the cabinets hoping to come across something. "… And don't order me around."

"Why? Cause you're Giovanni's kid? –"

"No, because if you order me around I'm going to kick you where the sun doesn't shine," you scoffed in response, but as you noticed Nina beside you, you thanked her while handing her some plates, some utensils, and then sending her off, while you grabbed a glass cup and filled it with the tap water. "So… your name is Petrel?"

"The one and only!" he exclaimed with a smirk, but as he noticed your unsure glance, he pouted at your stare. "… You really don't remember me, kid?"

"No. Sorry. I really can't recall you," you spoke, shrugging in response. "I mean, your hairstyle is one of a kind, sure, and there aren't that many people with purple eyes, but –"

"Okay!" he sighed, deeply, with a disappointed look on his face. "I get it. No need to explain yourself. You were, like, probably three after all –"

"I mean, if you want to talk about my dad and stuff I wouldn't mind it," you told him with a light smile on your face, as you sat down at the table, your greninja joining the two of you in one of the side seats, but your side, as you began to open the food, placing some on a plate for your greninja, before putting some food on your own plate. "I'm here to talk to my dad, after all, and I want answers."

"Answers you say," he stated as he began to grab at the food, as well, though you could tell he was giving you a curious, cautious look through that tired, droopy look on his face. He may look stupid or lazy, but you can tell it's an act. At least a little bit of an act.

"Yep."

"What sort of answers –"

"They aren't your questions to answer, so I'm not telling a stranger like you," you scoffed, calmly eating the food that you had placed on your plate, and giving Nina a slight smirk as she tried to mimic your movements, obviously waiting for you to start eating first, and you glanced at Petrel, who stared at you before calmly picking at his plate with a pout on his face. "… So, if we're going to be honest here, am I a prisoner?"

"No. Not really. I mean, yeah you've probably been told to stay in this room, but Archer can't stop you from roaming around the facility. It'll just be difficult to explain a gal like you roaming around the building, unsupervised."

"I'm sure I'll get bored. That's why I'm asking," you told him, but then you pointed behind you towards the living room, where your stuff was sprawled all over the coffee table, "but I do have work to do."

"Work? –"

"Becoming a champion isn't all fun and games," you scoffed in irritation as you angerly picked at your plate and chewed on some eggs. "Constant phone calls and group chats. Plus, I'm working as a professor's assistant, still, so… a lot of work to get through," you huffed as you picked at your food, but you noticed the curious look on the man's face, causing you to snort. "What?"

"It's just… nothing," he chuckled lightly to himself, but all you could do is glare back and eat your meal.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"This… is, boring," the purple haired, mustached man groaned as he sat on the couch, his eyes staring wearily at your greninja as she sat in a chair, staring at him from across the table.

"Then leave," you responded with a scoff as you sat back into the couch, sighing as you put your feet up onto the table and propped your laptop onto your knees. He watched you as you typed quickly on your keypad, occasionally stopping, thinking to yourself, before typing some more.

"What are you doing?" he stated, after a while of staring at you, and you scoffed in response.

"Writing up a report, stupid. What does it look like? I'm working," you responded bluntly, but you instinctively flinched as he suddenly stood up, but instead of doing something crazy he walked away, towards the kitchen, and you gave Nina a nod as she nodded in response, her eyes following the man while you continued to work.

You don't know how long you sat there, typing away at the computer and answering the occasional phone call. You avoided using a group chat, though at some point you had to, but you blacked out the screen so they only listened to your voice and not see the world behind you. You even put a piece of dark tape over the camera so they couldn't watch you.

Because they'd probably notice the layout. The guy sitting in the background. Possibly spotting a red 'R' or two. You weren't in the mood to explain yourself… or ruin your reputation. Archer is right. You do have a reputation to uphold… but that doesn't mean you care about it as much as he thinks.

Especially after all the shit you've been though.

You paused for a moment to rub at your face. Exhausted, from all the work today. Mainly just catching up with people, pretending to be naïve, and getting help on one task or the other. Transferring money, chatting with people who you cannot help but see as stupid, naïve idiots. But… at the end of the day it's been worth it.

You have a few potential festivals and outings you can attend. Showing off your 'champion prowess' to the general public. You've chatted with friends, those you haven't seen in what feels like forever. Catching up with their lives. Not talking too personally, but enough to satisfy them. And lastly…

Getting in touch with some potential universities. Talking to Professor Oak, most importantly. Finishing off everything that you had to do in Kalos, and then some.

But as you thought about making one last phone call and calling it a day, you heard your phone ringing, and you could tell Nina noticed that the man was looking in your direction, but you calmly looked at the caller ID, only to chuckle rather darkly to yourself and answer the number. "Hey Milo. What's up, you idiot?... Calm, calm down. What?" you blinked, slowly sitting up in your seat and placing your laptop onto the table, as you stood up and stretched your arms. "_Awww~_. You did something stupid, didn't you? – Yeah. I'm going to tease you. _What are you going to do~ about it?_... What's in it for me if I help?" you asked, your eyes staring directly at Petrel's as he looked back, now curious about this little conversation, and then you rolled your eyes and closed them, letting out a huffy breath. "That's not enough.

"Sorry bub! –… Now we're talking – Yeah. Half the share seems like a deal to me," you smirked, suddenly jumping up onto the couch and sitting on the headrest, casually crossing your leg up onto your knee as you leaned to your side. "Okay, okay. Calm yourself – Milo, breathe," you huffed, pausing for a moment before continuing. "… Okay. Explain the situation to me," you told him, ignoring the fact that someone was listening on this entire conversation and could compromise your little… deal, you could probably call it.

But whatever. Considering who Milo is and where he works, you could be doing Team Rocket _a favor~_… if that guy sitting behind you asks.

And you can tell if he's going to make a move by the way Nina is glaring the man down.

"… Yeah. You're right. That's complicated.

"I'll tell you," you sighed in an exhausted tone of voice, "it was hard for me to crack Team Galactic's mainframe in the first place. With the extra boost of porygon-z, that's even harder. But, remember, they had the goal of destroying the world in mind. The universe. Surely you can come up with the answer without me – Shut up. I'm getting there," you scoffed at the interruption, before calmly continuing.

"You remember Plasma, right? They may act like a bunch of old farts, but they have some of the greatest minds in their tool box –… Right. And that's the key. They must have hired someone to boost their security. There are a lot of firewalls you have to break through. You have a porygon, right?" you asked, pausing for a moment before nodding your head. "That one? Great – No. Don't use a dubious disc, and now isn't the time to try to improve on the porygon2 model –… My idea? Several porygons at once, at the very least. You have Rocket tech at your disposal, right? Use them to help you," you told him, pausing for a moment before letting out a huff. "Then I want seventy percent… sixty five… Fine. Sixty, but I expect you to wire me the money within the week, or else I'll find you and put a bullet through your head.

"Capisci?... Great," you responded, pausing for a moment before smirking to yourself. "_Where are you right now~?_... I **could** do that, or I could help you in person – _Maybe~_. Whoever said I joined Team Rocket or not?" you smirked slyly, before sighing tiredly to yourself. "Look, let's say it this way. If I cannot help you in person, then the deal is off and the boss will be the one to off **you**… We'll call this a trial run period," you smirked, jumping down to sit down on the couch, but you reached for your computer, phone still up to your ear, and you began to press a button to tell your porygon2 to get back into its flash drive. "… Okay.

"Heh. This is a big deal, eh? You could say, if you don't get this done you're as good as dead?" you smirked to yourself before letting a breath leave your lips. "… Give me a moment," you told him as you began to type on your computer, easily using the connection to the internet to invade Team Rocket's computer system, even without the aid of Ghost. All you needed was the list of names, and… Great! There's only one registered 'Milo' in the team. Alive, that is.

"I'm putting you on hold for a moment – Okay. I'll call you back. Give me a minute or two," you stated, turning off the phone and setting it on your lap as you turned, staring at Petrel. "Hey. You."

"Me?" he huffed, but you continued as if he wasn't acting all huffy in response.

"Yes. What would you call this base, exactly? Kanto 4.2? The seventh base? What?" you asked in a curious tone, but the man slowly stood to his feet, but he stared at your greninja wearily as she stood up in response, readying herself for an attack as he let out an aggravated response.

"And why should I tell you? –"

"If you do, and you answer correctly, you can leave this boring apartment and have a bit of fun," you smirked, noticing his unsure stare, but you shrugged, "or stay here while I wander around the base. The choice is yours –"

"Fine. Technically this is base 5.2, but it's the main Rocket base for the Kanto region –"

"Awesome. Then Milo is here," you smirked, ignoring the man as you went back to your phone, and you quickly made the effort to turn off your laptop before any sort of security systems could knock you out of the Rocket database. "Hey – Yeah… I'll see you in… maybe five minutes? Ten tops? – _Awww~. Are you __**scared**__~?_... For the record, I haven't decided yet. I may go to university, but money is my end goal," you told the man over the phone, and you sighed to yourself as you began to gather your things, including your flash drive, and while it would be easier to leave your bag in the room, you didn't want anyone to look through your stuff, but more importantly, if you're going to help the guy you're going to need some of your tools. "Yeah!... Yeah. I got it… I'm assuming this is urgent.

"Okay!... Okay… I get it – Oh?... Good to know. Yeah. I'll see you in a bit. Don't lose it while you're waiting," you chuckled, ending the call and shoving the phone into your pocket, just in case you forget where that guy is in this building and you need to call him a second time.

But as you turned to notice the executive, you could tell he was both irked, but also fascinated, and you narrowed your eyes in return. "So?"

"So? –"

"Are you coming with me or not?" you huffed, quickly thanking Nina for putting up with the man as you sent her back into her pokeball, and you clipped the ball back onto your trainer belt before clipping your belt around your waist, and you grabbed your bag, making sure your flash drive with your porygon2 is in your pocket, before you shoved your laptop into your bag. "I'm going to be right back. I need some stuff from my room."

"Got it," he responded, but you barely gave him a second glance as you rushed to your room, through the rest of your belongings, taking off your coat and putting on a more stylish jacket, and you zipped up the front, covering your tee shirt, as well as most of your belt from view, and you shoved some particular items into your bag. Mainly, various digital devises you've altered yourself, as well as a CD case and a disc drive case, before calmly making your way out of your room and back into the living room.

Noticing the man hadn't moved, you simply sighed in irritation. "Well, if it's not too much to ask, could you tell me where room -5, 16 is?"

"That far down?" he responded, but noticing your unamused look, he sighed and stood to his feet. "Kid, it's actually -516, not -5, 16."

"Whatever. Please, Petrel. Are you going to help me or not?" you asked, but before you could think about leaving him, he patted the top of your head as he stood up, passing you as he made his way silently to the door, with his hands in his pockets.

You rolled your eyes, but followed without question. After all, if this works not only will you be getting paid for this, but you could also find out what your father is doing in Sinnoh. A secondary reason, but Milo is giving your boring day something exciting to do. And, if you fail, you won't be in trouble, now will you?

That always makes these sorts of jobs that much easier, and a bit thrilling as well.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

_Capisci_ [Italian] – do you understand?


	5. Hacking the Mainframes 1

**A/N: ALRIGHT! HERE'S THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

**I'll be honest here. I'm not good with computer lingo and programming and all that sort of stuff. This is just my imagination on what hacking systems in the pokemon world would be like. I got the idea from looking over what sort of 'mons Silver should have, and noticing porygon. And when I started writing the story, before I scraped that story to start writing this one, I had added hacking and programming skills. Well, it's something interesting to read, I suppose. I spend a bit too much time on this, but it was fun to write this next set of chapters. It got me motivated to decide to post this story, in the first place.**

**Before, I had the traveling from one spot to, finally, the Team Rocket bases the longer scenes, and Silver joins up with her father soon after. This way, she gets to spread a bit of chaos, and there's some time consistency. Like, if you're going from Sinnoh to Kanto I doubt it'd only be a day's trip. And considering how I've structured this story, it'd take a lot more time then a day or two, with everything going on.**

**Okay. Enough explanations! **

**I did try my best with these chapters, so I apologize if something doesn't make a lot of sense. I did try… but it's hard to write about coding without, well, actually figuring out how to code. Programming is one of those skills I wished I learned, but was never taught in school and I never had the time or cared enough to figure it all out. Anyways, there's my explanation. I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter, and hopefully I can post more chapters soon!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

Petrel and yourself noticed more and more people running to and fro, completely ignoring the two of you as you draw closer to a particular room. You gave Petrel one of your famous amused smirks, but your grin fell at his own devious grin, as if he was remembering something fondly, and you just looked away with a huff, letting the doors slide open and calmly step inside. "Are you sure about this Milo?"

"No! But this is the best plan we've got! Becca, please, this is a life and death situation here! –"

"Just calm down! You're whining like a child –"

"A child indeed. I thought you had a better spine then this, Milo. _Perhaps my assistance is required elsewhere~_" you smirked slyly, pointing to the door about to back out, only to have the young man groveling at your knees.

"No! Wait! Don't leave! Silver!"

"Silver?" the woman in the room questioned, a devise in her hand as she pressed the button of a pokeball up against a devise, waiting for it to glow, and then 'ding', and she flung the ball into a pile as she continued with her work. "How is that name familiar? –"

"I do have a seventy five percent stake in this, so I suggest you move away and let me see what the problem is –"

"I-I thought it was sixty –"

"Or shall I make it eighty?" you continued in a thoughtful tone, only to hear the man letting out a wail, which brought such a wicked smirk to your face that Petrel raised an eyebrow, and the woman seemed to look at you with a worried look on her face.

"Okay! Okay! I don't want to die over something like this," he whined, but you simply rolled your eyes, finally getting tired of his groveling, and you used your foot to, slightly, push him to the side as you calmly made your way to the main computer frame. At least, the one that seemed like the main computer.

"So, what's the big problem here?"

"Everything," Milo stated, and you gave him a curious look while he rushed to the computer, sitting down in a chair in front of a large keypad, and began to type rapidly on the keypad. "I was ordered to hack into the Galactic main computers from here. We have a system that can do that, but there's someone actively blocking me. I-I'm not strong enough to stop this –"

"Well you're stupid," you responded bluntly, grabbing your own chair and letting it wheel itself over to the computer, as you calmly sat down upon it to have a better, but comfortable look at the vicious amounts of code on the screen, as you tried to analyze the situation. "You didn't even hide your tracks? Now Team Rocket is getting hacked –"

"No! The Boss will kill me! –"

"Shut up and let me figure this out," you told him, bluntly, and then you let out a sigh as you stood back up, using the chair to take out your belongings. "Ah, woman or assistant or whoever," you began as you began to unceremoniously put things onto the large control panel, making sure you didn't accidently press the wrong buttons as you did so, "where are you sending these porygons?"

"Into this computer –"

"And it connects to this one? –"

"Yes."

"Great. And not sniveling Milo or I'll leave you to deal with this situation on your own," you huffed in irritation, and you calmly connected two particular devices into the computer, which you are assuming connects to this big screen, and you were satisfied to notice the screen going black, then flickering, before turning back on and code rapidly streaming across the screen. Once you noticed the system rebooting itself, the way you needed it to, you connected another device together with the others, and then another, creating a stack that elaborately connected to each other, and you sighed, putting your bag down on the floor and kicking it underneath, slightly, so it was out of your way as you began to sit back down and concentrate. "… You honestly owe me, Milo. You really messed this up."

"I-I'm sorry –"

"But I guess when a criminal organization _doesn't hire professionals~_ we end up with these sorts of problems," you responded, only to let out a slight scoff. "Ah. I see the problem. It's the Golden Luxio."

"W-what?! T-that hacker? –"

"Yes. No wonder it was difficult, but I have some tricks up my sleeve," you continued, suddenly turning to glare at Milo, "but you still need to tell me what the heck you want done, here."

"W-well –"

"The Boss personally ordered us to hack into Team Galactic's main systems to figure out their security details. It's a long shot, but he's trying to break into a –"

"Becca! Don't tell her everything – Ow!" he cried out as you unceremoniously wacked him in the back of the head, causing him to whine and rubbed his sore head as you let out an irritated sigh.

"Sorry. Continue?"

"A-ah…" she blinked, suddenly looking to the executive you walked in with, and noticing his stern look, she continued quickly, "but, if the team figures out our motives they may change their plans –"

"Okay. I got it, I think. Hack in, see an overall security system… Fine," you huffed, turning and glancing back to the computer, and shifting to pull out your flash drive. You scooted your chair across the room, stopping in front of the computer Becca was sitting in front of as you plugged your flash drive into the large clunky looking computer. "For now, I've stopped any viruses, but you may have messed something up Milo," you told him, bluntly, before calmly continuing, but more for yourself then anyone else. "I'm going to need to do a few things, and then we can get started."

"A-are you sure the porygons will work? –"

"Nope, but it's as good of a plan as any," you told Becca, sighing to yourself as you scooted closer to the keypad, noticing your own porygon2 easily corrupting the computer to the point that the other porygons were rebelling, but you calmly typed a few things on the keypad, bringing up a blank black, green, and white screen on the side of the desktop background, and you calmly began to type your instructions. _'Ghost. Use learning program:_

'_205632053857-2927'_

"And by the way," you continued rather bluntly as the screen flickered and all the porygons seemed to have disappeared from sight. "You can try copying what I do, but it won't get you anywhere. I'm _very~_ careful to cover my tracks, Milo."

"I-I'll keep that in mind," he responded, but you turned back, noticing the screen had turned bright white, but you continued to type, even if the lettering wasn't showing up on the screen.

'_247-20562372_

'_523052703520 _

'_2056-2694'_

You paused, waiting and taking your hands off of the keypad, only to watch the screen come back, after a moment, your porygon2 chirping happily, and you noticed the other porygons seemed to be following your own porygon with an attentive look in their eyes. "Oh. Great. It worked," you responded, bluntly, and you continued to type, again, this time your commands showing up on the screen, again.

'_Ghost, we will be dealing with a difficult opponent. _

'_Orders are simple:_

'_Download Galactic's main servers._

'_Download as much data of Galactic as you possibly can._

'_4402.0303.2044_

'_Get me control of the systems._

'_Use the porygons to download._

'_Expect a fight._

'_Most importantly:_

'_Download everything and anything dealing with __**security**__._

'_**Secure**__._

'_**Top secret**__,'_ you finished, your hands pausing as you waited for your porygon2 to get the information, and give you a thumbs up, and you smirked to yourself before you pushed your feet against the floor, making your way to the other side of the room, and beginning the grueling work of connecting and transferring an army of 'mons from one computer to the other.

You laid back for a moment, your eyes gazing over at the nervous Milo, causing you to scoff. "Why don't you make yourself useful and get me a soda?"

"B-but –"

"This stuff takes time, and unless you want me to leave, get me a soda," you responded bluntly, and you smirked to yourself as he scurried away, while you calmly turned back to the large frozen computer to sigh tiredly to yourself. After a moment, you reached for some more items from your bag, pulling out an earphone with a microphone attached, plugging it into a port, before plugging in one more item as you calmly, and waited out of pure boredom for things to start moving.

Again.

And luckily, but before Milo returned, you noticed the large screen starting to get active, again, and you could tell Ghost had made its way into the system, rearranging the computer as it went. "Ghost. You hear me?" you asked through your microphone, and as you noticed your logo of a silver silhouetted ninetale fox on the screen, suddenly showing up on every turned on screen in the room, you smirked to yourself. "Good. Let's get this started.

"You know what to do," you continued, scooting closer to the keypad and making sure your hands were on the keys, ready to go, and as you watched the screen begin to flicker, your porygon2 isolating the hacker and disrupting any viruses and even security malware in the system, you noticed something flickering on screen, causing you to huff. "Go time. Ghost. Use the good old bait and switch. Use some pawns you wouldn't mind getting rid of," you told your porygon2, pausing for a moment, before you put your hands upon the keypad and began to type, rapidly.

Your eyes narrowed in deep concentration, the world around you becoming a faded blur. All that mattered was the massive amounts of code to decipher, scrolling down the screen in rapid succession, your fingers upon the keyboard as your chair swiveled as you swayed your body, and the direct orders that left your breath every so often. Sometimes in code, sometimes directly, but first you had to get this invader out of the Rocket's mainframe. And next, hack into Galactic's system. Since you're up against an expert you have to be careful. Who knows what type of army of porygon and other cyber 'mons he could have at his disposal.

But, with a satisfied smirk, the bait was working and you managed to sneak your way through a back door. Pushing your feet against the floor, you scooted over to another screen, a computer that was on but hadn't been used, yet, and you began to type rapidly there. You let out an exhausted sigh, your fingers still moving rapidly while your porygon2 did most of the work, but you were fighting against a smart foe… A computer, yes, but obviously another human behind the scenes, with skills similar to your own. "Start downloading sequence 2056-2694," you spoke through the mic, and you pointed across the room and let out a huff, hoping to get someone's attention. "A downloading screen should pop up over there," you stated bluntly, not bothering to look behind yourself as you continued. "Tell me when the main download bar has past 50%."

"Yes ma'am!" you heard Becca shout, and a slight whine from Milo, but you glanced to your side, noticing a soda pop, and you quickly opened it, gulping down the delicious sweet liquid, before turning your attention back to the screen.

"Great work. Ghost. Tell me when Golden Luxio starts showing up." You smirked as your porygon2 let out a chiming noise through the screen, into the earbud in your ear, and while you naturally flinched, you deviously smirked, but you were ready, glaring intently at the screen in front of you.

You couldn't help but recall the time you didn't have a porygon by your side. Hacking and roaming cyberspace is ten times harder without one. Everything has to be done manually, but with a porygon, properly trained and programmed, you don't have to work as hard and let your porygon take care of most of the problems. Still, you couldn't help but read the codes that rapidly scrolled the screen, eying them carefully. Just in case. But more importantly…

You couldn't stop the deep throated growl that left your breath as you noticed Cyrus' old number code. "What is that asshole doing?" you grumbled to yourself, hoping that this was a cruel joke. Terribly cruel joke. That, probably, one of his old higher ups are simply using his name, for things. His code, for things.

You can only hope because you thought you got rid of him –

"50%, ma'am!" you heard Becca shout, causing you to snap out of your thoughts, put your drink down, and sigh as you leaned closer to the keyboard, getting ready for the 'attack', as you like to call it. By now, you're sure the other hacker has noticed that you've infiltrated the system, but why haven't they started a retaliation?

"… Tell me when it reaches 70%. Then 80%," you spoke across the room before turning your attention back to your own screen, letting out a sigh before you began to order your porygon around, again. "Ghost. You have nothing?" Hearing a familiar whine, which was more like a shrug or a 'no' then anything else, you sighed to yourself. "Fine. If he won't come to us, we'll find him.

'_5206-5273-7077_

'_25063560 _

'_06037733-6421_

'_4712-2053'_

You began, pausing for a moment, before you began to type even more rapidly, waiting for something to crack. You'd rather have your enemies out in the open, after all, so you can take them down with ease. But, even if your Ghost gets exposed, the other porygons can handle it… for the most part. Besides, this is a distraction. If only for a little while longer.

"Ready?" and when you heard a chirp in your ear, in response, you breathed softly before narrowing your eyes, but you smirked in satisfaction as you pressed the number 6 on the keypad. You tried to hold back your wicked chuckle as your logo, once again, flashed all over the screen, and in a matter of moments the computer screens flickered, and you chuckled darkly in response. "Go time.

"Use signal beam," you ordered, pausing for a moment as you heard particular cries in your ear, but everything on the screen came back on, scrolling rapidly like normal, but you could tell your porygon2 had ended up somewhere else.

You scooted over to a very tiny screen in a corner of the room, nudging a worker out of the way as she protested, but you weren't in the mood as you finally saw your little porygon2 fighting a porygon-z. "Oh, big mistake. You should never make a porygon-z," you scoffed at the sight. If anything, the next piece of tech you want to tinker with would be making a better dubious disc to use, and if that doesn't work then start all over from scratch. It would require a lot of porygon2… but at least it'd be worth it if you make a limited supply and sell it to the highest bidder.

"Lock-on, then tri attack," you spoke, watching the screen flickering, again, but you sighed to yourself, watching the porygons disappearing, and you pushed your feet against the floor, moving around the room as you followed this cyberspace chaos. "… Trick room," you smirked, watching the screen change colors, but before you could give up hope you heard a shout from across the room.

"8-82%! Sorry, ma'am! –"

"Good! Make sure that screen stays stable and hopefully we can scan most of the data!" you shouted, before turning back to the screen, rolling your eyes, and you rolled over to another screen. "Quick, blow him back with a zap cannon!

"Now, use substitute, put up a wall, and get back here," you told your porygon, but you quickly stood up, causing a few of the nearby Rockets to flinch in response, but you walked over to the downloading screen, narrowing your eyes as you noticed some of the downloads. Some hadn't even left 1%, but most had finished, with a few straggling behind. Good…

Now, the hard part. Getting the hell out of dodge. "Ghost, take your pals and ghost out of there. End up on computer 25," you told your porygon2, but before you could hear a protect you held up a finger. "92% will be enough, hopefully. We cannot stay hacked in Galactic's system for very long. But, it's better than I hoped for."

"I-if you say so –"

"But a lot of the computers here are going to shut off, then reboot," you continued, turning to Petrel, who, this entire time, has been watching you work without daring to move from his spot. "Petrel, if you don't mind, call Archer or get someone to tell him that? That this isn't an error in our systems."

"Yes ma'am," he responded, though he seemed to be amused and smirking at you, but you just rolled your eyes, suddenly moving Milo off of his chair as he let out a confused shout, but you went back to the fairly large computer, cracking your fingers before letting out a deep, tired sigh.

"Ghost, how's it going?" and as you heard a familiar chirp sound, you smirked to yourself. "This Luxio hacker must be all talk… Ghost, make sure you've taken care of all viruses. Reboot the system. Keep those porygons in tact, and once you're done, give me a heads up. I'll be bringing you back into the flash drive when you're ready," you told your porygon2, calmly sitting back into the chair and sipping on your soda, eying Milo before you smirked slyly at the irritate look on his face. "You so owe me for this."

"Yes, I'll pay you –"

"Nope. Not that. You're lucky I'm here or else you would have fully corrupted the team's hard drives. The main computers, and where they are I honestly have no idea. Still, that would have caused you to get offed, for sure," you scoffed, but he snorted in response.

"Look. Why do you even care? You're not part of the team, are you? –"

"Well, no, but let's just say… if you make it harder for me to talk to my father, then you won't just be in trouble with the team. The boss, or whatever. But me," you turned to him, glaring angerly in his direction and watching the man flinch, and once his cowering nature satisfied you, you sighed and went back to drinking your soda. "… Let's hope I don't have to do that again."

"I-it may have not worked? –"

"Possibly. It's happened before, Milo. I'm taking a chance and hopefully it pays off –" but you were cut off as you noticed your silver fox logo flashing on the screen, and with a smirk you put your soda down, typing rapidly onto the keypad, and he watched you with an unsure, hesitant stare while you concentrated. Hopefully, this'll be enough data to look over, and with your own malware, personalized software, will be enough to keep any foreign viruses out of the systems while you wrap this up.

Calmly, you began to unplug certain things, while the lights flickered for a moment around the room before flickering back on, and all the computers shut down, before turning back on and bringing up the log in screens as you shoved most of your devises back into your bag, but then you propped your laptop onto the massive keypad, turning on your laptop, and the moment you were logged in you put your flash drive in place, watching your laptop flicker while you unplugged your microphone and earbud socket into your laptop port. "Ghost. Download everything the porygons collected. How long?" And as you noticed the 1hr downloading screen, then turn into 20.7 minutes, you sighed and turned your attention to the rest of the group, calmly taking off your equipment and standing up, making your way over to Petrel. "It's going to be a while."

"Oh?" he responded, but you couldn't help but let your smile fade at him as you began to sip on the soda can you had picked back up into your hand, glaring back as he looked around the room before letting out a sigh. "This tech stuff is always so boring, to me. You make it interesting, though."

"Thanks, I guess. I mean, what's fun is the idea of hacking into systems and not only stealing precious valuable information, but also money. In fact," you smirked to yourself, noticing his sudden glaring at you, but you continued calmly, "you honestly think I didn't take a bit for myself?"

"Silver, kid –"

"Don't worry. It was just Galactic's accounts. Just squeezed a few hundred out of each. Enough to freak them out," you told him, pausing for a moment before sighing to yourself. "Is Archer mad? –"

"No, but he's on his way down here –"

"Fine. Just… it's going to be at least twenty minutes before I can look through the stuff I stole, and heck, if he wants to tell me **what** he wants then fine. Galactic is probably running around, trying to figure out what the heck just happened. If this was just a hack attack or something grander. They may figure it out within twenty minutes, within the span of an hour, but we only have an hour, tops."

"Good to know," he sighed deeply, and you crossed your arms over your chest, sipping your soda as you stared around the room as the others seemed to be chatting with each other. Obviously about you. Either they were utterly confused over what just happened, in utter fear, or in awe that they got to work alongside the famous hacker, the Silver Fox. You could only roll your eyes at this, but heck, people's enthusiasm over the simplest things **is** amusing. "You are an interesting kid. You know that?"

"You think? I'll take that as a compliment then," you sighed tiredly, rubbing at your exhausted face, and wishing the day was over.

You could tell he was eying you, but you ignored him. Slowly, you quietly wandered back to your laptop, sitting down and sipping your soda. In desperate need for sugar. Actually, you desire caffeine, but this'll have to do, for now.


	6. Hacking the Mainframes 2

**A/N: HEY GUYS!**

**I would have posted this chapter yesterday, but I fell asleep and forgot to do it. Anyways, I hope you guys are liking this story so far! I tried to make hacking interesting… but honestly, from what I know about programming, it's a lot of technical work. **

**Also, there's going to be some more stuff about Team Galactic. Ah, if I'm going to be honest, I'm not sure if I'll completely finish that particular arc/plotline in this story. I may break away from this story to continue with that story and make it a sequel. For this story, I want to spend more time with Team Rocket. Not too much action and adventuring. So, yeah. Though, I may go into some interesting pokemon lore that I've made up or other stuff later… but we'll see. No promises. **

**So, yeah. There's going to be some interesting stuff in this chapter, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'll be going into depth with that 'storyline'. I was thinking… what happened when the player character went into the distortion world? Did everything happen the way it did in the games? Or could it be ten times darker? I'll leave what happened up to the imagination, for now.**

**I hope you guys ENJOY the rest of your week! And I'm hoping to post another chapter or two… but no promises. 'Kay. BYE! **

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"This is unexpected," Archer sighed in agitation after you explained the situation, trying not to growl underneath your breath at the man's irritable response. "You are supposed to watch her, Petrel. If her, hmm… if her father finds out –"

"Hey! The kid did this on her own, Arch. Besides, this kid has some skills. I'll admit that," he responded, giving you a slight wink as if that'd calm your nerves, while Archer sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, slightly, before glaring over at Milo, who was supposed to have done the work you did, but then he looked back to you and nodded his head. "Fine. Since you're already here, you might as well help –"

"I better be getting paid for this," you responded bluntly, your gaze falling back on your laptop, before you looked back to Archer and you let out a tired sigh. "I am sorry, though, but a chance to get back at Team Galactic. How can I pass such an opportunity?"

"Get back at?" Petrel questioned, but Archer put up a hand, causing the man to scoff, but he remained silent and glaring at the other executive as the teal haired man continued.

"This data could end up being the driving force of our plans, Ms. Sakaki. Are you sure you're up for this? –"

"Yes. This isn't the first time I've taken down a team by using my programming skills," you stated simply, but now you were wandering back to your laptop, sitting down into a chair and pretending all eyes weren't on you, as you began to type of your keypad. Then you reached for another flash drive, this one not as fancy, and you ordered the other porygons to enter the devise, leaving your porygon2 behind. Trying to deal with all those 'mons will just corrupt your laptop… further. It's already pretty bad and you're in desperate need for a new one.

Maybe with the money you earn from this you can get a new one? And some more gear?

But you've ignored your phone calls for the rest of the evening to finish this little project. "Alright," you began, catching Archer's attention as he was ordering someone around, and he calmly walked to your side of the room as you continued, placing your headset back on so Ghost could clearly hear you, "what exactly do you need? Be specific."

"Galactic should have a base located off the coast of Sunnyshore City, in Sinnoh," he began, pausing as he noticed you were typing on the computer, writing down some cryptic code that he honestly didn't understand while he calmly continued. "We want to plan an invasion strike force to snuff out the bulk of their team, so –"

"You can conquer the rest of the region," you stated, and he sighed to himself.

"Yes. That's true –"

"Alright. What exactly are you looking for, with that base?" you asked, and the man glanced to Petrel for a moment, before he looked at the clipboard in his grasp.

"Everything useful. How many people? How big is the base? Security? Maybe some floor plans –"

"See, if I was told all that stuff, I would have had the porygons download more data," you stated, glaring in Milo's direction, though right now he had his back to you while he was talking to a few other people in the room, but then you continued with a scoff, "but, if that sort of stuff is what you want, I can tell you. Or print it out?"

"You can just tell me. I'll write it down –"

"They have a clocked in force of about 147 people," you began, and you waited for the man to start writing as you continued, "and from that 147, 3 executives and 28 admins."

"28? –"

"Yes. Most of their forces are there, at least the strong trainers. According to Ghost," you continued, "the only way to get there is by the sea. They have a lot of security that checks over the waters. Some water pokemon, as well. But," you continued, "the executives they have don't seem to be the original ones."

"Explain."

"Their head scientist, Charon, is said to be in Mt. Coronet, somewhere. Going after legendries or maybe catching 'mons for research, I'm assuming," you explained simply. "I'm not surprised to see Saturn at the base, since he does want his boss' plans to succeed, but I know Mars quit. She hasn't been on the payroll or used her ID card, or any indicator she's involved herself in the team since its demise almost two years ago. Jupiter is there at the base, but also someone named Sird. According to Ghost," you continued, typing as you brought up the mysterious executive's information, "this Sird has a link to Team Rocket, too. Do you know –"

"Yes. She must have went rogue," Archer stated with a glare in his eyes, and since he didn't seem like he was going to say more, you shrugged your shoulders and continued.

"They have a hacker there. I'm sure. If that guy hasn't already made an escape, by now. But, most of their forces at that base seem to specialize in security. Not scientific research. You're going to walk into a fight."

"Okay," Archer exclaimed as he wrote a few things down before continuing. "Do you have anything about the floor plans?"

"No," you stated bluntly. "If I was told to look, I would have had Ghost do so. However," you continued, noticing your porygon2 was looking through the recently downloaded files as well, and your eyes skimmed through the coding as more information began to reveal itself on the screen, "… hmm."

"What? –"

"There's some underground tunnels leading onto the island. They must be coming from Sunnyshore City or nearby islands… You could try assaulting the island from all sides. There is another smaller, less inhabited port town on an island a few miles away… There are 12 levels," you continued. "I don't have an exact map, but there are 12 levels to the base. Five below ground. They have security rooms on floor 3, 5, and -2. The largest, the one on the 3rd floor. Sleeping quarters are below… work above… except for the bottom floor, which probably has pokemon experimentation and other stuff down there… Need I go on?" you asked, and the man sighed.

"I mean, if there's more you think is useful –"

"That's as good as it's going to get," you explained bluntly. "If you need more information, I'd have to hack back into their system. They'll catch on, by then, who is doing so, if they didn't figure out this is Team Rocket's doing. In other words –"

"They will be expecting an attack," Archer stated, causing you to nod as you turned back to your laptop, and you let a thoughtful look cross your face before you sighed to yourself. "… You have a thought on the matter?"

"I mean, I have a plan. If you guys are ready to strike at this very moment," you stated, letting out a sigh as you continued in an exhausted tone. "The window of opportunity is getting narrower. What I could do is hack back into their systems and corrupt things, a bit. Toy with them. It'll be a good distraction for a good few minutes, at most, before they catch on to the invasion… but this has to happen as soon as possible. The more you wait, the less effective it'll be… Well? Should you be making calls?" you responded, giving the man a curious look, only for Archer to respond with a very slight smirk, though barely noticeable, and you rolled your eyes as you turned back to your laptop, typing and mumbling into the microphone so only Ghost could hear, as you heard Archer making a phone call.

"Are you sure you can do it, kid?" you heard Petrel ask, causing you to scoff.

"You doubt my abilities?"

"Not really, but you seemed to be having a hard time hacking into their mainframe the first time –"

"Yes, and they'll be expecting me too. But, I can really mess up their systems, which could cause a panic. Plus, if worse comes to worse, I do have another trick up my sleeve," you stated, your eyes glancing to your porygon2 as you pondered the idea of using 'that' file… but you could.

You just didn't want Cyrus to be right about you –

"Ms. Sakaki. If you could take this phone call," Archer asked, and before you knew it you had a phone up to your free ear, causing you to let out an agitated sigh in response.

"Ah, hello?"

"_Sylvia?" _you heard a familiar voice on the other side of the line, and you couldn't stop the smile that appeared on your face.

"Dad! H-hey. How are you doing?"

But you heard him sigh irritably in response. _"Bambina, what are you doing at the base, of all places? –"_

"Look, not to be rude and interrupt you," you began, even though that's exactly what you were doing right now, "but time is of the essence here. Besides, we can talk about our, ah… problems later. I hunted you down so we can talk face to face. If I wanted to talk over the phone, I would have done that months ago," you stated, and you could hear your father pausing, probably thinking over your words, but you continued with a scoff leaving your breath. "Anyways, you're in Sinnoh, right?"

"_Yes? –"_

"Like I told Archer, you should tell your boss that I could make a distraction for him by corrupting their systems, but if we do most of the hard drives and other computer systems will be corrupted. Data will be lost. If your boss wants something very specific from that team, you could lose it… Still want to go through with it?" you asked in a curious tone, only to hear your father chuckling over the other side of the line. "What's so funny?"

"_You. I never thought you'd end up being a criminal,"_ he chuckled to himself, but you scoffed in response.

"I'm planning on getting paid il babbo, a-and don't make fun of me! –"

"_Fine. Will you listen to Archer if I say yes?" _he responded, causing you to pause and blink, utterly confused by his question for a moment, before you sighed.

"Do I have to?"

"_Yes. If you want to get paid," _he continued, and you scoffed at his words.

"Fine. I'll listen to him, but –"

"_After this Galactic business I'll be back in Kanto. You can go stay at the mansion and –"_

"No. I'm staying at this base until you're back. Whether you want me to see you at work or not," you scoffed in irritation. "Let's not get into a fight right now, okay?"

"_I agree. If you could hand the phone bac –"_ but before your father finished his sentence you handed the phone back to Archer, slumping back into your chair as you told Ghost to go back into the flash drive and get ready for another fight, while you began to log back into the Rocket computer in front of you, with ease, which caused someone to yell at you, but you ignored it.

You were grumbling underneath your breath, not in the mood to be bothered right now. Still… your father wants you to leave… what's the big deal?

Does he hate you this much? What? Will he die of embarrassment if you see him? Is that it?

This is why you came, after all. To get answers. Not be forced to ignore the questions you've had for years. Many years.

But before you could think about hitting something out of pure frustration, you felt a hand on your shoulder, and you looked in slight confusion to notice it was Petrel. "Kid. Did something happen?"

"… No. I'm just irked right now. My dad can be a bit of a… control freak," you decided to say, causing the man to smirk at you.

"I'm sure he wants to protect you, Silver –"

"Ms. Sakaki. If you could?" you heard Archer say, causing you to sigh deeply while you began to set up your devises and gear, again. And the moment you plugged your flash drive back into the computer, you know this is going to be a long, long night.

What did you sign up for?

Crap.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"I'm ready when you are," you told Archer, who paused for a moment, continued to talk over the phone while you rolled your eyes and glanced over at Petrel. "… You keep staring at me. It's creepy."

"Sorry kid. I've been thinking, is all," he tried to tell you, but you simply sighed in response.

"I'm not the same kid I used to be, okay? Besides, I'm almost seventeen. You shouldn't be calling me kid."

"Well, kid, I'll always see you as a kid," he smirked, making you pout, but before you could look away he continued, "It's just a shame you don't remember me. We did play a lot of video games together," he told you, causing you to glance over at him, blinking, before looking back to him with a slightly wide look in your eyes.

"On your Pass Station?"

"Yes! So you do remember –"

"You didn't have a beard back then," you stated, simply, your eyes not quite staring directly at him as you tried to remember the very distant memory, "and, you had a koffing. But you were one of the cool babysitters," you explained, causing his smile to wean, just slightly.

"The cool ones, huh?"

"I've been watched by so many people. Of course I'd forget them," you huffed in response, "and by the time I would have gave a damn, I was shipped off to an all girl's boarding school. There are reasons why I'm mad with my father, Petrel."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he replied, but you shrugged your shoulders in response.

"It doesn't matter anymore. I've come to terms with the fact that we can never see eye to eye, but family is all that you have. Friends come and go, but whoever is left in your family is it… and honestly, my father is the only person on this planet I can ever believe has my best intentions in mind. Ever," you told him, turning your attention back to your porygon, and typing some more code onto the computer as you continued solemnly. "He may hide stuff. A lot of stuff, and that always made me angry, but… I've realized recently he did this so I wouldn't make the same mistakes he did.

"Funny. Considering now I'm helping Team Rocket, when before I'd never do so," you huffed, but the man simply smiled lightly in approval.

But before he could make a response, Archer spoke up instead. "Ms. Sakaki. You can start," he told you, causing you to close your eyes, sighing deeply to yourself, before your eyelids snapped open as you glared at the computer screen, your fingers rapidly typing against the keypad.

Everything happened so quickly. You and your Ghost working in perfect harmony to hack into the Galactic systems, again, and have an army of porygon-z and porygon trying to fight back. And, you could tell they were trying to figure out where the corruption came from, which, you were smart about. At least, Ghost is. You trained it for this type of warfare, after all.

Cyber warfare.

You have simple commands, all the while typing rapidly on the keypad, and your eyes scanned not only the list of data your porygon2 was picking up as it corrupted the systems, but also… you were searching for something. And then…

With a click of a button you had full access to the security cameras, which caused Archer to almost sprint over to the large screen to take a better look, but your eyes scanned through the cameras, disabling some while you were searching for one scene in particular.

And then, you saw it, leaving only a small few cameras active, at least from your end of the screen. For a moment you paused, before letting a cough leave your breath, causing not only one group in the cameras to turn towards the speakers in the room, utterly confused, but also more heads turned in the other cameras. Towards the speaker boxes. The active security cameras, and then you sighed, in a regrettable tone of voice. "Oh Saturn, you idiot," you began, but before Archer could stop you, you continued in a blunt, irritated tone of voice, "you couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? I gave you a chance to disappear, but here you are trying to revive a fucking team that should have burnt down with its boss."

"Master Cyrus is alive! He is! I heard him! –"

"So what?" you responded with a blunt scoff, and you noticed some of the Team Rocket grunts and agents starting to move, again, probably seeing this as an opening as you continued with a sneer leaving your breath. You kept your eyes on your porygon2, making sure it was surviving any attacks coming its way, without your assistance, as you continued, "So what? If he's dead or not, he lost. Fucking get over yourself –"

"Never! –"

"I held back, you dumbass. I could have burnt your entire organization to the ground, but I restrained myself. Do you want to know why?" you asked, pausing for dramatic effect while your gaze looked through the live cameras, trying to pinpoint your father in the chaos while you continued with a huff. "Compassion. Mars got the hint. Why couldn't you bozos?"

"She's a coward –"

"No. She was smart. You are an idiot –"

"You know nothing of our great leader's sacrifice! –"

"It was no fucking sacrifice. He lost! Get that through your thick skull!... You know what? I wasn't going to do this… but fine," you huffed to yourself, your eyes noticing Ghost was looking at you through the screen, as if to warn you to not do it, but you shook your head and let a scoff leave your breath. "Perhaps Cyrus did get into my head, a tad," you began, watching as not only that Saturn, but also that Jupiter, seemed to pause, and several other grunts seemed to be listening, while others were currently under attack and not paying attention to the conversation on the intercom, but you continued, "but, he was right. In one way.

"I am a thief. And a killer. And I'm no better then a criminal like him," you responded, before you typed something onto the screen, and when you noticed Ghost shaking its head, you sneered. "Ghost, come on and play the file," you told your porygon2, and you waited for a moment, watching as the enemy porygon were thrown back, and the porygon-z had frozen in time, while your own porygon began to play a file, hidden in its data base.

The moment it started to play, probably broadcasting far beyond the base, and across Galactic's main screens, you began to type rapidly on the computer, getting Ghost to download more data, data on 'legendary' and 'top secret' that hadn't been downloaded, yet, as well as anything to do with 'Team Rocket' and 'Kanto'. All the while, you were ignoring the intercom, as you let the system corrupt itself, and the last trigger would be the rest of the file playing, before it all starts to self destruct.

"_Si====, please send this to my Team Galactic," began a voice, the video feed barely blackened out and hard to see, except for the silhouette of a large man sitting in front of the screen, with spiky dark blue hair, obscured by the dark background._

"_The battle is over. We have lost," he spoke, _causing most of the grunts to look at each other, utterly confused, while you noticed Saturn was growling underneath his breath at the screen, in disbelief._ "No. I have lost. The future I wished for will not be… No. It must not be. The girl opened my eyes to the truth. _

"_In fact, I see all. The past, the future, and the present. Even now, I know you, Saturn, will try to revive Team Galactic, but to no avail. If the police will not end the team, then it'll be another criminal organization. Team Rocket. I am sure._

"_Because, traine= ====er is a Rocket. I know. I have seen it._

"_She has always been a Rocket," he stated_, causing you to snarl underneath your breath, but you kept at your task, silently, trying to hold back your anger while you heard Archer trying to say something to you, but you ignored him completely.

"_She is as deadly as a rose. So is her father, and his mother before him. It's in their blood, and sadly, we got in their way. We sought a better world… but they only want domination. _

"_You should follow her. _

"_She has the gift, now. The gift of Gir====a. The Red Chain has ============ ==========,"_ but for a while, all they could hear is static, and you smirked to yourself, Ghost finally blasting another porygon-z off the screen, before giving you a thumbs up, and you nodded and began to type some more on the keypad, causing your porygon2 to disappear, completely, and the screens began to go blank, and the screen in front of you flicker, while the rest of the video cut in and out before suddenly appearing on the screen, in full size.

"_==== ======= ==e has a bond, a strong bond. With her pokemon. They helped me see that I was wrong. That this world, the world you live in, is a perfect world. As perfect as it'll become. By now, I am sure the trainer has become a champion,"_ he continued, causing a snort to leave your breath as you leaned back in your chair and tried not to slam your foot into the machine in front of you, out of pure irritation, _"and, decided to join Team Rocket in some way. Has decided that now was the time to show this tape, before you are demolished completely._

"_She is a smart child. You should have never doubted her long lasting grudge, Saturn. There is nothing I can do for you, or the team. _

"_Team Galactic is no more._

"_You are to disband immediately and surrender, before you're murdered. _

"_And no. Don't go after the trainer Sil===. We came upon an agreement, her and I. This is how it must be. I suggest you surrender._

"_Or else even Giratina will show up and destroy what is left of Team Galactic," the voice finished, and a strange ear splitting screech could be heard through the video, though faintly you could hear an inhuman roar on the other end_, and with a press of a button, the video shut off, and after the computer shut off, it turned back on and you calmly rebooted the screen, logging back into the system and bringing back the Rocket branded dashboard.

You closed your eyes, letting out a shaky breath over what you just did. You never, ever wanted anyone to see that video. In fact, **any** video Cyrus had given you. It shows that, a, he is alive, and b, you're in constant communication with the man. Not all the time… but enough that it can become irritating at times. Honestly, you wonder if he only sends you those messages and is fishing for a response because he is lonely. That even he realizes that no one can be truly alone. Not really.

It'll drive you mad.

But, you simply brought your porygon2 back into the flash drive, waiting for Ghost to properly transfer its data, before unplugging the flash drive, unplugging all of your devises currently plugged into the computer you had been using, before stuffing them into your bag, except for your flash drive, which you tucked into the inner pocket of your jacket. Slowly, you stood up, pausing to notice that Archer was staring at you, with an utterly confused look on his face, while Petrel was staring at you with concern. The rest of the people seemed to be confused, except for a small few, who seemed to have enough intelligence to know who and what you had cut out of the video.

"… If you have something to say, just say it," you spoke bluntly, pausing for a moment to wait for someone to say something to you, even Archer, and when he didn't you began to walk away, only to feel your arm being grabbed by the man.

You shoved him away, roughly, your eyes glaring back at him, and he flinched away, looking at you with wide, confused eyes. "W-what's going on with your eyes? –"

"None of your fucking business. Leave me the fuck alone," you spat, rubbing at your wrist with a growl leaving your breath, before you let out a huff and began to walk away, leaving the room before you could fully lose it.

And then…

You let the tears you had been holding back trickle down your hot and painful face, while your teeth grit together and you tried not to scream. Or outright sob. It… hurt… so, so much. And you slowly reached for your eyes, rubbing at the tears that you felt streaming down your face, to look at your fingers and notice it was red.

Blood.

Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be blood?

And red?

"Go die," you breathed, gripping your bloody hand into a fist as you let in a shaky breath, trying to hold in your pain. Your anger. Your frustrations…

The pain… the sadness… the fear.

Everything negative… you needed to push away. Or else you could pass out and end up dead on the floor, right here and now. You've survived this curse for long enough. You just… need to breathe.

Cyrus may piss you off, but that Giratina…

Its voice… as if it was beckoning you back into the distortion world… Aigh! Why?

"You… you… you did it. The fight is over… breathe," you told yourself as you body shook, but before you knew it you were tumbling to the floor, losing any strength you had in your knees, and you began to lose consciousness as you heard someone shouting your name.

But, it didn't matter…

No… it does matter. You want to live. You don't want to die, like this…

Wow… you really are stupid, aren't you? You played right into his hands, damn it…

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

_mia bambina_ [Italian] – my child [feminine/girl]

_il babbo_ [Italian] – father, dad, daddy [informal/casual]


	7. Seeking the Truth 4

**A/N: HEY! I decided to look over and post another chapter.**

**There will be a bit of a time skip, so get ready for that! **

The _italics_, in this case, is a _dream sequence_. I think I'll be doing italics for dreams and people on the other side of the call. But, I will say _**italics and bold will be characters speaking in a different language**_. So if characters are speaking a different language for a long period of time, I'm not going to translate everything. Just so you guys are aware.

**Hmm… I think that's about it. I didn't really have a lot to say compared to the last chapter, so ENJOY! **

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

_Voices swarmed your mind, in an attempt to consume you whole. _

_The darkness… was closing in… trying to suffocate you._

_You tried to breathe, but your lungs wouldn't work. Your mouth wouldn't suck in air._

_You gasped, like a magikarp that had washed up on land. Unable to make it back to the water, but in a perpetual state of living and dead._

_Dead… living…_

_Are you really alive?_

_You're dead?... Aren't you?..._

"_**No."**_

_The voice was so strong, so clear_, that it caused your voice to let in a deep gasp, and in a sudden movement you could feel your breath in your lungs. Stale, but it was air.

Slowly, your eyelids began to flicker open, your lips dry from dehydration, your eyes sore as you flinched at the burning white light above you. But… you realized…

That damn Cyrus. Almost getting you killed, like that. Does he really want you dead or not?

Asshole.

"Silver," you heard a voice, which sounded so faint and obscure you weren't sure if you know the owner of the voice or not, and you tried to look at the voice, your eyes narrowed and unfocused, and you moaned in pain as you felt a pressure on your face, over your eye, around your mouth, and against your chest. "Lugia. I thought I lost you."

"… W-who?" you couldn't help but respond, your eyes blinking trying to see clearly who was talking to you, and all you could hear is an exhausted sigh.

"Petrel, kid. Don't you remember? –"

"Y-yes… I'm… this is Team Rocket. I'm at a Rocket base," you mumbled, the focus in your silver gaze coming back as you blinked, trying to get your mind back in order, but then you flinched as you felt a large palm on top of your head.

"Don't try too hard. You just woke up. You fainted and stopped breathing, and you were bleeding from your eyes. Did someone sneak some poison into your food, perhaps? That Milo –"

"N-no," you spoke out, before you let out a heavy cough, putting your arm onto your face as you coughed, roughly, and once you felt your breath, again, you continued with a shaky sigh. "That… happens. It was the recording of Cyrus," you groaned, and you could hear the man let out a huff.

"What? The recording? You mean that video you had displaying at the Galactic base? –"

"Y-yes," you groaned, again. "The… painful screeching in the background… is a legendary 'mon that brings me a lot of pain," you tried to explain, your eyes opening again as you looked over at him, through the arm that was currently over most of your face. "It's a longwinded explanation."

"I see –"

"You didn't go through my stuff, did you?" you scoffed in irritation, only to notice the man smirking in response.

"No, actually. We were under strict orders not to go through your belongings, but kid," he continued with a tired sigh, "you've been unconscious for three days, now," he told you, waiting for your reaction.

And all you could do is let out a tired sigh.

"… We got what we wanted, by the way. Thank you for your help."

"I expect to be paid, though. If you don't, I'll just steal my share of the profits," you responded, but he chuckled heartedly in response.

"Don't worry about that. The Boss already plans on paying you," he told you, but then you huffed to yourself.

"My father," you mumbled, getting the man's attention as you continued solemnly, "is he? –"

"They should be back in a few more days, tops. Just get some sleep," he told you, putting a hand on your head before standing to his feet. Where he was sitting, you have no idea. Maybe a stool? Or a chair? "I'm going to inform your father that you're better, now. This happens normally?"

"… Giratina," you admitted, bluntly, looking past your arm to glare at the man. "Let's just say… Cyrus would have messed up a lot more if I hadn't intervened. I almost lost everything… and that ass wasn't going to win."

"I see," he stated, unsure how to take that response, but he rose and calmly left your room, leaving you alone in the bright lights, and you groaned to yourself.

Slowly, your finger lifted and you felt your eyes glowing eerily, again. With a flick of your finger, you caused the light switch to flip and turn the lights off, and with a content sigh you pulled the blankets higher up on your body, before rolling and attempting to get comfortable on the sheets.

That man is right. You're exhausted and needed some more sleep… but…

Now what?

Hopefully that information is enough for everyone else to stop asking questions. Unless your father asks, of course. He's the only one you could ever trust with the full truth. Everything. Even if he can be rather mean and overly aggressive. Demanding. He keeps his secrets to his chest. Even the secrets… involving you.

Which is why you do the same.

The unspoken code in your tiny family. You don't talk about what doesn't need to be spoken about, and everything will work out, hopefully. Eventually…

But you need answers, now. You will not live another day being left in the dark like this.

Cyrus is right, though. Being alone sounds… nice…

And quiet… and peaceful… if you end it…

No.

No, you won't let that bastard win! His words won't get to you, damn it! He lost. You won! And he's wrong, damn it! Wrong!

"Fuckin wrong," you grumbled underneath your breath, your eyelids tightly closing as you tried to push out the pain. But…

_The screams of torment echoed in your ears…_

_And the voices… they won't stop… They won't stop!_

_Please just, just stop. Stop, damn it!_

_Stop!_

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"_**Wake up,"**__ you heard a voice calling in your head, enough to push out all the negative activities and emotions, and slowly…_

Your eyelids began to open, again, before turning fully to hear something ringing by your ear. You stumbled to reach for your bag, reaching inside and fishing out a phone. Letting out a cough into your hand you looked at the caller ID, only to sit up in the bed, pressing the green button, and bringing the phone up to your ear. "A-alex? H-hey! Ah, something wrong?

"Y-yeah!... Yeah… I'm okay," you breathed, putting a hand upon your chest as you sighed tiredly. "No, I-I really am –… All over the news, huh?... I'm sorry," you sighed as you scooted to the top of the medical bed you had been resting upon, slumping your head up against the wall and your back against the pillow as you let a snort leave your breath. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Cyrus –… I-it's fine. I'm fine –… Really! I! –… I miss you too," you began to sniffle, putting a hand up to your mouth as you tried to muffle your whimpering, as stray tears began to drip down your face. "… Okay… Okay… maybe I should have waited –… Thanks," you smiled to yourself, chuckling dryly at his words before you sighed and properly sat up in the bed.

"Other then that mess, did you call for anything else?... You are!? That's great! How long –… I may just greet you at the door," you chuckled, and your giggling turned into snickering at the response you got from the other side of the line. "_Well~_… you know how I wouldn't let myself live with the fact that I didn't apologize to my dad, right?

"To make it blunt, he works for Team Rocket… Yeah. I had a feeling," you responded, your smile turning into a slight pout as you sighed tiredly to yourself. "Y-yeah… He must be a higher up of some kind, though… Those are the people I've been forced to interact with! –… Well, they're nothing like you," you chuckled, snickering at the reaction you got on the other side of the line. "You're the cute one. No, _**you~ are**_… You. Ti amo," you grinned, snickering to yourself before you sighed tiredly. "No. I didn't get to meet with him, yet.

"A lifetime of unknowing and soon I'll be given the truth? It's scary," you admitted, pausing for a moment before chuckling dryly to yourself. "Yeah… y-yeah… Are they? Your grandma?... Okay. I'll keep that in mind.

"Say, you may be done and all, but stay safe… You too," you smiled to yourself, your eyes glancing over at a nearby alarm clock to notice the time read '4:07' in the morning, you're guessing. Considering everything seems very, very dark and you believe it's an AM, not a PM. "Watch your back. Don't let them get the better of you… Ti amo di più. Come back as soon as you can –… Yes. I still have work, probably more now… Y-yeah. A date. T-that'd be great," you chuckled nervously at the thought. Wondering what the man had in store for you. "Okay. Bye –… Addio amore mio. Bye!" you finished, ending the call before you looked at the date and time on your phone.

You were right. It's about four in the morning, and… you've been here for at least four days. Geeze… you hate it when Giratina ends up manipulating you like this.

Ever since Sinnoh and the distortion world…

You sighed, slumping against the wall, only to feel this necessary urge to move around and burn off some energy. You've rested enough. It's time to get up and do… **something**! You just can't slump here a moment longer.

So, after a moment of pondering the thought of staying or not, you decided to slowly slip yourself out of the bed, reaching for your bag, and leafing through your belongings. It looks like Petrel was right. No one seemed to have rearranged your stuff and messed around with your gear. Even your flash drive with Ghost inside was in there, thrown in a careless way, but it was there.

Calmly, and slowly so no one will hopefully hear you, you threw off the hospital nightgown you were in, slipping on a pair of pants, a shirt, and a decently sized jacket that'll zip up in front of your and keep you decently warm. Your clothes… you wonder where they went, but you can ask that question, later.

Right now, you have to get out of this stuffy room. Maybe you can explore? Or should you just find that apartment you have the rest of your stuff in and start doing something productive?

But the idea of sneaking around caused your adrenaline to start pumping rapidly. You were excited. Being bedridden was boring, and you needed to do something. Now. So… you slowly pushed open the door, making sure no one seemed to be roaming the hallways or making noise, and slowly, tiptoeing with your bare feet, you began to slink your way around this hospital wing.

Or infirmary wing? That's what you're guessing as you wandered the brightly lit hallways, crouching down as you noticed a person with a scrub at a control center, sleeping. You slowly slipped past the swinging doors, making sure it didn't swing behind you as you went, and once you passed the lit hallways, you slowly stood to your feet and let out a sigh of relief.

Your eyes darted around, looking for any sort of sign. Luckily, you did find a sign, one pointing to the infirmary you just came from, one pointing to the restrooms, and the other pointing to the stairs.

Ah, perfect!

But before you could start making your way to the stairs, a hand suddenly grabbed you from behind, grasping out your mouth, and you tried to let out a scream as you struggled in the much taller figure's grasp. In one swift motion you were pinned up against the wall, but not before you managed to fish out a blade, pointing it up and right underneath the neck of your aggressor, only for your narrowed silver eyes to soften, just slightly, out of confusion, at the man who was towering over you. "Interesting skills," the purple haired man began in a quiet tone, but he acted as if he didn't have a knife up against his neck as he put a free hand against his lips, giving you a rather dark look in return, "but, keep quiet," he told you, letting go of your lips and calmly backing away while you rubbed at your shoulder and glared at him.

"What do you want?" you scoffed in a whisper, but the man simply sighed in response.

"You should be back in the infirmary, kid. You're not completely well –"

"I don't care. If I stay another moment in that place I'm going to go crazy," you stated with a hiss leaving your breath, but you flinched away as his hand came very close to your mouth, again, and you pointed the blade towards his hand, glaring at him while he blinked, then smirked, and grabbed the end of the blade, slowly pushing it away from being pointed right at his face.

"… If you agree to go back to sleep, I'll lead you back to the apartment. Deal?" he asked, holding out his right hand to you, and with a huff leaving your breath, you shook his hand and gave him a slight nod, causing Petrel to smile and nod his head.

"Follow me and keep quiet. A lot of people are still asleep," he told you, turning towards the restrooms and making his way down the hallway. You reluctantly followed, but decided not to argue. You were surprised to find the elevator in this direction, but it was there, and after pressing the button for 'up' and the two of you stepped inside, you were on your way up towards the top of the building… whether you truly wanted his help or not.

Oh well. At least you'll get to sleep in a nice warm bed instead of that fairly cold and uncomfortable hospital bed.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

With a tired yawn leaving your breath you slowly opened your eyes, sighing comfortably in the soft plush bed you found yourself sleeping on…

Only to remember that stuff with Milo and Galactic, and you could only let out an annoyed snort.

Of course. Of course, Team Galactic is behind this whole mess. Still, you refuse to murder them. Even though they tried to kill you multiple times… that doesn't mean that's the right thing to do. Unless it's absolutely necessary.

But, what almost made you jump right out of bed was the realization that Ghost downloaded a buttload of information. Information now lost to the general public. To the team. It doesn't exist, and if it does it's barely readable. Honestly, you don't like doing that sort of thing. If you grabbed information and it's not completely clear, then there's no way to go back and download some more data. If it's important then… then that just sucks. It's a big guessing game, and no one pays for incomplete information.

Still, while you passed out, again, due to exhaustion, as you made your way back to your laptop, the charger plugged into the wall and attached to your laptop to keep it on, you noticed Ghost was all ready for you. The porygon that have been borrowed from the Rockets have been wiped clean. Sure, there could be small remnants of what they had done, the codes and instructions both you and Ghost did, but what remains is so miniscule, even if someone is smart enough to piece most of it together, they won't have a complete code and system run, at all. In other words, it's a useless effort, but you bet they'll try. But they probably aren't expecting you to just hand over the porygons.

You attached three different flash drives, watching as the porygon began to disappear from the screen, and once they were in you properly took the flash drives out, capping them, and attaching them on a lanyard you could afford to get rid of. In fact, you'd rather get rid of this thing then keep it around. Either way, it didn't take you long to toss the flash drives aside, and you opened up a CD drive, placing a blank CD inside, and letting Ghost do its thing. You watched as the porygon2 began to download the massive amount of information it had stolen into the CD, and as it began to do that you stood up, calmly leaving your room and making your way into the bathroom, but you paused. Noticing the light in the living room was on, and you cautiously walked into the large space to notice Petrel was sitting at the dining table.

"Kid. About time. I was starting to get worried."

"Of me?" you asked, still wearing your pajamas as you scuffed your feet against the carpeting, and sliding on the wooden floor, as you slipped into a chair and let out an exhausted sigh. "Sorry for worrying you, I guess."

"I wondered if I should have let you leave the infirmary, but considering you're up, now, how are you feeling?"

"Almost at normal. Nothing too major. I just had an overly exertive day, is all," you explained, as well as you could without going into the details, before you cast the man a curious look. "So, don't tell me that Archer guy is worried about me too."

"Yes. He's been trying to insist that I bring you back to the infirmary. To be looked after, until your father gets back. Luckily, Giovanni is supposed to arrive back at the base within 24 hours. When exactly depends on how long it takes them to reach Viridian, but he'll be here soon," he told you, noticing your eyes slowly turning unfocused, and slightly annoyed, and he let a tired sigh leave his breath. "That should be exciting, right?"

"Y-yeah… I should start packing my belongings," you responded, not bothering to hear his response as you made your way back into your bedroom, and you began to stuff your things back into your traveling bag, thanking whoever developed shrinking technology. It's perfect for a trainer, considering you'd end up with a large hiker backpack with all the crap you carry.

You left your laptop sitting on the desk, but everything else was properly put away before you began to leaf through your clothes, wondering what you should wear for the day. Something discreet? Cute?... Sexy? Casual? Maybe formal?

After taking a shower, a much needed rinse to wake yourself up and replenish your youthful appearance, you decided to wear a pair of booty short blue jeans, with your casual black heeled boots. It's been ages since you wore something other then your bulky hiking boots, and you do like to feel a tad taller. After slipping on a black sports bra that matched your underwear, you slipped on a lacy light lavender shirt, with the collar drifting easily past your shoulders, but you had one sleeve up on your shoulder while the other slumped off your arm, and you grabbed a light black dress coat, which was enough to keep the chill of the air conditioning off of your body, but enough to keep you looking stylish.

Lastly, you grabbed your silver and black trainer belt, buckling it in front of you and letting it hand precariously on your hip, just tight enough to stay on your hip and not slip onto the floor. You grabbed a very precious necklace that you've worn for, well, ages. It was a moonstone, chiseled down into the shape of an arrowhead. With a thin rope wrapped around it, creating a long necklace. Looped on the rope was random small, yet smoothed down pieces of colorful stones, and you smiled fondly at the necklace, before closing your eyes and slipping it over your head, making sure the arrowhead was sitting perfectly on your chest.

Calmly, you sat down in front of the vanity dresser, staring at the mirror as you looked at your upper figure with a sad smile on your face. R-right… you need to confront your father. Apologize. It doesn't matter who was right or not, but you can't live life like this for another moment. He's your father after all. Even if he can be an idiot at times. You…

Do love him.

You truly do.

After a moment of silence, sighing tiredly to yourself as you pondered your decisions and continued to second guess your choices, you brought a brush to your long soft brunette hair, combing out the tangles and split ends, realizing you should probably get a hair cut after this is all over and you have some time to do so, before you grabbed a black scrunchie and tied back your hair, deciding to make your hairdo rather simple. All you did was make a ponytail, but instead of the ponytail being behind your head, it was higher up on your head and slightly to the side. Your bangs, you noticed, were also getting rather long, and you naturally swiped your messy bangs to the side, sighing to yourself as you stared at yourself in the mirror.

"… Okay. You can do this. Just… do it," you told yourself with a scoff as you slowly rose to your feet, and you made sure the bed was made and your packed bag was on top of the bed, and your eyes glanced to your laptop one last time before you calmly made your way back into the living room/kitchen space. Ready to face the day, no matter how scared you really are about this.

Even after everything… what if your father rejects you?

What then?

What should you do after that?

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

_Ti amo_ [Italian] – I love you

_ti amo di più_ [Italian] – I love you more


	8. Seeking the Truth 5

**A/N: HEY GUYS! Sorry for not posting for a while. I kind of got lazy… but a bit more importantly, I was writing a few more chapters. Now, I have too many on file and I want to get some of these out before I get overwhelmed. So, I may post more then one chapter today! It's been a bit busy for me lately. That's why nothing has been posted.**

**Well, I'm trying to save money for a car so I guess I'll allow the stress. **

**But I hope you guys are doing alright! And ENJOYING your summer! I, for one, am not really doing much for the summer. Occasionally hanging out with a friend… for me this isn't exactly a 'summer break' because I've been out of school for a while. It's just another season. At least now it's not snowing! Here, we have afternoon showers and it doesn't stay too hot for too long. We need the wet weather though, so no complaints from me. I hate overly hot summers. I don't think I'd ever be able to live in Phoenix, Arizona, where the temps reach higher than 100.**

**Well, enough about that. I hope you ENJOY and have a great rest of your day!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

You don't know how this happened.

After Petrel was dismissed to 'get back to work', and you sat in Archer's office for what felt like forever, you managed to sneak away claiming you needed to use the restroom. However, it was the perfect opportunity to explore and get a bite to eat. Besides, time continued to tick and tick, and you couldn't stand staring at the clock for a moment longer.

Hours turned into only a few more as you waited for your father's arrival. Strangely enough, the hallways of the Rocket base seemed to be increasing in noise as the remaining grunts and agents alike worked diligently at their tasks, all the while waiting in anticipation in the same way you are. While some did look in your direction, giving you looks that would cause most girls your age to impulsively leave the room before it got to… gross, most were too engrossed in their own thoughts and worries like yourself.

At least it's oblivious to you that the people who work here are human, too. Not mere robots or murderers… okay, you're sure some are killers. In fact, there should be a few, but they aren't as 'evil' as everyone else wants to claim. That's the thing with crime. There are a lot of reasons why someone does commit a crime, and it's usually out of desperation. Not boredom or pleasure. Sometimes they are adrenaline junkies, but usually they make sloppy mistakes if that's the case.

So does that make you the exception?

But you cannot help but be satisfied with this ID card Archer gave you. It gave you access to practically anything you wanted. With one swipe, you could open unauthorized doors, buy vending machine goods without having to pay, and no one seemed to be bothering you. Asking you questions. Hmm… though, now that you think about it, if someone were to forge an ID like this… just how many people come and go as spies without getting caught?

If you do mend your fractured bond with your father, and that's a big if, maybe you'll bring up that question later?

After wandering the hallways, following signs and getting used to the layout of the building, you found yourself in the living and training quarters for the Team Rocket members, and eventually, you stepped into the cafeteria. A quarter of the room was crowded, but everyone seemed to be on edge. As if they are holding their breaths, waiting for something important to happen. A few even wore causal civilian clothes, much like yourself, and you couldn't help but feel a little satisfied after noticing that.

But before you could go up to the food to ask about your ID card, if it'll grant you free food too, or just snatch away a drink and a bag of chips before anyone noticed, you heard a familiar screechy noise that could only bring an irritable groan to your face. "Twerp?! Oi, twerp!" you heard the scratchy voice, and before you knew it, out of nowhere, a small feline jumped onto your knee, hugging you tightly. "Guys, look what I caught!"

"You didn't catch me Meowth," you scoffed in irritation, suddenly grabbing him by the back of his neck, tugging on his skin and prying him off of you as he instinctively put his paws in front of his body, and his eyes widened as you easily picked him up like a feline would do her cubs. "I'm here to get some food. Not be bothered by you three," you continued, your glaring silver gaze turning to the two humans the strange talking 'mon calls partners and friends, and you could tell they were both surprised by your casual response to being 'caught'.

"What? Did the Boss hire a twerpette for his crazy schemes? What is the man thinking?" Jessie scoffed, walking past you and towards the food, while you rolled your eyes at the woman's reaction, only to feel your hold of the meowth slipping as the male of the group grabbed you in a tight hug.

"Silver, it's been so long!" he whined, only causing a tired sigh to leave your breath, while you gave him a slight pat on the back.

"I suppose, James," you mumbled, flinching as he held you at arm's length, tears streaming from his eyes as he smiled widely, and you stared at him as if he was losing his marbles.

Only to hear him cry out as Jessie gave him a swift punch in the head. "Idiots! You're attracting attention. We'll deal with the twerpette in a moment, but right now," she continued, her gaze falling back on the food, and you smirked meekly at the scene before you, before you calmly placed the meowth onto the floor. He huffed as you gently patted him on the top of the head and made your way towards the food as well, ignoring the two Rocket agents arguing as you wondered what you should get.

You do have cash if you need to use it. So at least that's an option if all else fails –

"Yeah. Speaking of that, what **is** a twerp doing here?" Jessie asked in an irritated tone, but when you ignored her she let out a scoff. "Hey! I'm talking to you –"

"I would say it's none of your damn business, but considering you won't leave me alone otherwise," you continued, your head lifting and your back straightening as you looked past the food, wondering where the servers are so you can ask for some grub, before continuing with a scoff leaving your breath. "… It's a long story."

"Long story?" the three of them repeated at the same time, but before you could continue someone did step out of the back, noticing the four of you while you cast him a pleasant, but slightly nervous smile.

Ignoring the idiots beside you, you asked how do you get food here? If you have to pay and if so, how. Once you got your questions were answered and learned that, yes, your suspicions were true. You can use your ID to get grub. So you pointed to a few things, accepting the tray, and noticing another worker had shown up in front of the cash register, while you calmly placed your plate on a tray, and decided to pour yourself a cup of tea. Coffee will only leave you a bit too wired, and right now you're so, so bored from sitting around all day. Caffeine will only make your problems worse.

"We saw your victory on the tv," James decided to say, which caused a light smile to come to your face as the two of you began to wait for the other two.

"Oh? Replays or –"

"The actual battle between that black haired kid and his odd charizard," Jessie stated with a scoff as she walked up to the two of you, Meowth by her side, while glaring in your general direction. "What the heck was that stuff you used? The announcer was calling it a 'strange new temporary evolution'?"

"It's called mega evolution and that's a whole explanation," you told her, walking up to the cashier with a tired sigh leaving your breath, as you began to take out the ID Archer gave you, "but it's not a new thing. The Kalos region and some surrounding regions have known about mega evolution for centuries, but –"

"Woh! Kid! Guys, that's a gold platinum card!" Meowth suddenly exclaimed, causing his companions to suddenly stare at your ID card as you handed it over to the cashier, and you stared at their surprised, and then excited, reaction with utter confusion. "Where did you swipe that?!"

"I didn't swipe this," you scoffed in irritation as you looked back at the cashier, noticing his suspicious glaring, before you turned back to the talking meowth and let a deep throated snarl leave your breath. "Archer gave it to me! You annoying furball."

"Who are you calling a furball?! –"

"You mean **the** Executive Archer?" James asked, and you noticed he was whimpering at the thought while you let out a huff, snatching back your ID card and slipping it into your inner jacket pocket. Even if the coat is a bit too frilly for your tastes, at least it has two little pockets on the inside. Just in case. "The Boss' right hand man?! –"

"Yes. Idiots. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to eat in peace," you stated with a scoff, taking your tray and trying to scurry away, only to get stopped by Jessie's hand grasping the back of the collar of your coat, and you turned to glare back at her.

But of course, that woman didn't flinch at your menacing glare at all. "Why are you here, Silver? Didn't you once say you would take down every bad guy in the world, if you could? Some sort of naïve social activist?" she scoffed, but she wasn't fazed as you manage to pry yourself away, glad that you didn't drop or spill anything on your tray, only to sigh irritably and walk away from them.

You had a dark glare in your eyes as you walked, causing a group in your general vicinity to flinch at the sight, but after you managed to find a table far enough away from the crowds and up against a far wall that you didn't feel cornered, you slowly sat down, closing your eyes and sighing deeply. Breathe… breathe… you need to calm down and breathe…

"Kid? Are you okay?" you heard Meowth ask you, suddenly sitting on a chair right beside your own, and he let out a confused yelp as you began to pat his head, a thoughtful look now on your face, as you smiled meekly and sadly as he gave you a hesitant look. "… Twerp?"

"I'm… I'm fine. Stressed, but fine," you told the feline, noticing his human teammates approaching, but you kept patting the meowth's head, your eyes following the two Rockets as they began to sit down silently, staring at you while you stared back at them, until Meowth snapped you out of your thoughts as he began to purr happily.

"_Right there~_" he whined as you itched behind his head, next to his ear, scratching a patch of dry skin close to his meowth coin, before letting your palm press up against his cheek as he tried to get closer and closer to you.

You smirked in amusement, but then turned your attention back to the red and purple haired young adults, letting out a sigh. "If you must know… I'm here because my father is here," you decided to admit, pausing as you waited for a response, and while the feline was engrossed in his head scratching, his teammates were not.

"Wait. What?" you heard James respond, before hearing Jessie slam her hands onto the table and suddenly stand to her feet.

"What do you mean by that?!" she sneered, only to be brought back into her chair as James tried to reassure her, but you gave them a blank stare in response.

Looking at them as if they were a couple of idiots. "My father works here. Duh. What part of that didn't you understand? –"

"Everything! And why would you even come –"

"Just… just take a breath before I decide to punch you in the face, and just let me get to that," you told Jessie, watching as she growled lowly in response, but all you could do is close your eyes, sigh, and then use your free hand to rub the back of your sore neck. "… I decided that I need to apologize to my father," you began, pausing again before slowly taking your hand off of Meowth's head, which caused him to whine at the loss of a head scratch, while you put your hands in front of your body on the table, your eyes gazing down at your food as you refused to look at the two of them in the face. "I… said some things I never should have, and I was acting like a stupid bratty kid. I know that man would take weeks to see me, so instead I decided to find him myself.

"What I didn't expect was to end up at a well known criminal organization, Team Rocket no less. Escorted by executives and told to keep myself hidden… I always thought my father was some sort of CEO of a company or something, but… a criminal? Why?" you pouted, but you suddenly heard the scratching of a tray, causing you to snap your head up to notice Jessie angerly eating at her food, all the while grumbling underneath her breath while James chuckled nervously at her behavior.

"Do you have something against criminals?" she scoffed at you, but you simply shrugged your shoulders.

"That's not the problem. Considering my dad insisted I always play by the rules. Follow rules. A real hard ass about that sort of stuff, I didn't think he'd be the type of guy who breaks laws all the time. I mean, this is Team Rocket we're talking about. Not some biker gang or street thugs. A big deal," you told them, your head slumping onto your hand as you leaned your elbow against the table, and with your free hand you began to eat and pick at your food, all the while subconsciously feeding the meowth beside you, which he greatly appreciated. "… Still. I've come this far. I'm not turning back now."

"You didn't know your father was a criminal?" you heard James ask, and all you could do is let out an exhausted sigh. "The way you spoke about him… he reminded me of my parents, is all. Though, not as… insistent."

"I wouldn't say I'm rich. He's the rich one. How? It must be crime, obviously. I figured out that he must own a company, at the very least. Maybe a large corporation that has their hands in everything that has to do with Kanto and Johto? He has power. And fame. But… just, I-I didn't… make the connections," you decided to say, closing your eyes once more and sighing to yourself. "I'm so stupid."

"You should have just asked," Jessie scoffed as she hungerly ate at her food. "If he's any sort of man, he would have told you."

"Seriously? You honestly think he would have? I have asked, I'll let you know. Asked about his job multiple times. Why he can't do anything with me. Threw me aside to live in a boarding school, alone. Why **should** I **ever** think he'll be honest with me?" you huffed back, angerly chewing on your food, as you let the occasional snarl leave your breath. "Yes, maybe I act like a brat about it at times, but it is he that never is fully honest with me. At the very least, he would never blatantly tell me."

"Why would you go through this effort?" James asked, his question causing you to pause in your aggressive chewing, and slowly you sighed to yourself, telling yourself to calm down and stop acting like, well, a brat.

"He's all I got James. Besides, he may hide the truth and occasionally lie to me, but he loves me," you stated, turning to give Meowth a particularly big bite of food, and smiling to yourself as he let out a happy 'meow' in response.

"How could you say someone loves you if they lie?" Jessie responded, but you shrugged your shoulders at her comment.

"Whatever he does at Team Rocket, he's not proud of it. What I've always understood about… his profession is that he was roped into it by his mother. He's never going to be truly happy," you stated as you began to eat your meal, again, your eyes gazing at the delicious looking chocolate cake in particular, but instead you sipped some of your drink before continuing. "All he would tell me is that he never wanted me to end up like him. Sad, tired, and alone. His wife died because of what he does. Because we have targets on our backs. He always gave me a damn excuse not to go on my pokemon journey and… he was right about some stuff," you closed your eyes, sighing in a rough aggravated tone before you began to cut into the cake and shove it into your mouth. "That's why I should apologize."

"Because he was right?" James responded in a curious tone, while you simply nodded your head at his words. "I'm sorry Silver, but that's not a good enough reason to sneak your way into a criminal syndicate and –"

"For the record, James, I used the front door. If I had snuck in we wouldn't be having this conversation, I'm sure," you huffed back, only to feel a tug on your sleeve, causing you to glance down at Meowth. "Yes?"

"You care about your father, but does he care about you?" he asked, only to start purring happily as you began to scratch the top of his head, causing you to smirk, slightly.

"He sent me to the best schools and gave me the best opportunities to succeed. When he planned a day to be with me, he meant it. He dropped everything, no matter how stressful or important it was, to spend the day with me. And, he was so worried that he lost his temper with me multiple times, but never hit me over the most stupidest things I did… If he didn't love me, then why go through the effort?" you finished, with a sigh, your hand leaving the Meowth's head as your own head began to plop down onto the table, and you let out a low, agonizing groan. "Let's just say we have a complicated relationship," you decided to say, only to hear James cough into his hand, getting your attention slightly.

"He's your only relative? Don't you have aunts or uncles? Maybe cousins or a distant –"

"My father was an only child. Similar situation as me, but I was planned and he was not. I'm sure if my mum got to live for a few more years she would have given me a sibling," you began, pausing for a moment before lifting your head, only to put your arms underneath your head to plop your head down and close your eyes as you thought of the right words to say. "If there were relatives on my father's side, I don't know about them. Maybe he was disowned by them or there never were relatives. My mother though… had parents, but they also died before I was born. I think my mother's aunt passed away about… six years ago? I never met her either," you explained, sighing to yourself as you continued. "But, that's the long winded reason. I guess if I wanted to, I could ignore my father for the rest of my life. Pretend like he's dead like everyone else.

"That's the thing, though. The longer I wait, the further the rift between us will form… I'm willing to fight for it, but, if he doesn't even try then I have my answer," you finished in a miserable tone, but then you instinctively flinched as you felt Meowth's paw on top of your head, causing you to turn and give him a confused look.

"Don't cry Silv. We're here for you. Right guys?" he asked, turning to his human teammates, only to narrow his eyes in irritation. "**Right** guys?"

"If you need to run away, you can always come find us," James responded with a light smile, only to hear Jessie sigh irritably to herself. "… Jess?"

"Come on Jessie Jess. The twerpette may be a twerp, but she needs our support!"

"Jessie, y-you don't have to care about a person like me –"

"You're way too nice for your own good," Jessie decided to say with a scoff leaving her breath, before staring back at you with a tired look on her face, "but, if that asshole doesn't treat you right, I'll beat him up for you. No questions asked."

"Thanks," you couldn't stop yourself from smiling, and as you noticed her slight surprised blush appearing on her cheeks, you slowly sat up and chuckled dryly to yourself. "Sorry to make this a sob fest. But, how are you guys doing? Anything new with you?"

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"Holy crap. Are you guys okay?" you chuckled as you sat in your seat, grinning from ear to ear while James let out a whine.

"_My back is still sore~!_"

"And we still haven't caught that blasted pikachu!" Jessie scoffed, while you couldn't stop yourself from rolling your eyes. "Hey! It's a powerful pikachu! And the Boss –"

"Pikachus come and go. Don't you know that there's a bunch of them living right in this forest?" you scoffed, shaking your head and sighing to yourself. "What's so great about Ash's pikachu anyways? It may be stronger then your average raichu, but last time we fought I totally creamed him."

"That's because you're the best, Silv!" Meowth exclaimed, throwing up his paws before gasping and turning to his teammates. "Hey! Jessie Jess! Jamesie. I have an idea! –"

"I'm not helping. Don't even think about it," you scoffed, flipping your bangs to the side in a dramatic fashion, causing the feline to let out a whine.

"Why not? If you're a Rocket now we could totally use your help –"

"Firstly, Ash is a rival, and if he's losing his 'mons then I won't have any fun battles with him, anymore. And totally win and make his cry," you began, smirking to yourself before letting out a scoff, "and second, this is **your** goal. Not mine. And whoever said I was a Rocket member?"

"Well if your father works here –"

"Just because Silver's relative works with the team doesn't mean she has to also," Jessie sighed, causing both Meowth and James to look at her slightly surprised, but you simply gave her a curious look in return. "However, all this really means is that she'll probably keeping her mouth shut about us. We don't have to worry about another powerhouse of a trainer trying to destroy Team Rocket."

"I suppose that's true," you decided to say, only to smirk and point your empty fork in her general direction, "though, if you mess up and expose yourselves, it ain't my problem."

"How cruel!" James playfully whined, causing Jessie to yell at him while you couldn't stop yourself from laughing.

Ah, you've missed this! It's been… years now since you've had a chance to talk to these three. Too bad they aren't as awesome as they used to be, but they're still a comical bunch. A contrast to a lot of other Team Rocket members you've come to know, meet, and deal with over the years.

"Well, if it isn't little Jessie," you heard someone taunting from across the room, causing the smile on your face to disappear as you glared at the blonde haired woman as she walked tall and proud, with her intimidated teammate trailing behind her, "and her loser crew."

"Cassidy!" Jessie sneered, standing to her feet in a dramatic fashion, but as James tried to calm the redhead down while the two women stared death glares at one another, your eyes caught a brown gaze, and all you could do is let out a tired sigh in response.

"Oh. It's the kid," Cassidy's teammate responded, and you gave him a slight wave of your hand while he put his tray down on a nearby empty table. "Silver. What are you up to now?"

"Hey Butch," you said with a meek smile on your face. "Long time no see?"

"Getting close to two years?" he chuckled, only for the two of you flinch as Cassidy raised her voice.

"What!? What's the loser twerp doing here?! –"

"Did you join the bad guys? Finally?" Butch responded with a hopeful look on his face, while you let Meowth sit himself down on your lap while you scratched him behind the ears. Again.

"Not really. I did help with the Galactic diversion about… almost a week ago? Helped hack the Galactic systems. I better be getting paid for that. I don't work for free," you scoffed, only to flinch your head back as Cassidy suddenly had her face right up against yours, causing you to glare in response. "… **What?**"

"What are you? An independent hacker now?" she huffed, but she let out a yell as you shoved her face away from your with your hand, but you restrained yourself from fully forcing her into the ground, and instead you shoved her away.

"None of your fucking business," you hissed back, only to pat Meowth on the head before plopping him back down in his chair, and he looked up at you sadly while you began to stand to your feet. "Well. It's been lovely catching up, but it's been almost an hour. I'm sure Arch –"

"There you are!" you heard a stammering voice respond, teal blue eyes suddenly turning sharp and hateful as he hastened his way over to your little corner, causing all eyes to turn to the two of you while everyone's lips closed shut. "You have been missing for fifty two minutes. Where have **you** been?"

"Eating. Duh. What's your problem?" you scoffed, glaring back at the much taller man with a malice that rivaled his own. "You gave me an ID to go where I please. Besides, you can't keep me cooped up in a room doing nothing all day."

"You're impossible," he responded with a tired groan, pinching the bridge of his nose while he sighed deeply, and his eyelids flickered open as he looked at the field agents around the table, backing away from him as if he was going to order them to jump off a cliff, but instead his angry eyes turned to you. "… If you're going to wander off, at the very least inform me –"

"And if I do that, would you have someone tail me? Exactly. I'm not a child. I'm almost seventeen. I don't need to be treated like a naïve child –"

"But you **are** an arrogant child. And still a child, as far as I'm concerned," Archer scoffed, only to let out a shaky breath in an attempt to calm his nerves, before he continued. "If you could… please return to my office with me and not act like an adolescent –"

"Why should I? –"

"Your father has returned," he stated bluntly, pausing for a moment as your eyes widened, and any sort of aggression you had turned into slight relief, but also worry. "He'll be in the building in less then –"

"A-alright. I get it. You could have just said that in the first place," you stated, calmly leaving the table as you let out another long breath in an attempt to calm your nerves, before you gave the gathered, now silenced group a meek smile. "See you later, I guess."

"Bye'ya twerp!" Meowth responded instantly, snickering to himself as he waved at you, and you gave him a light smile and a nod, only to turn around and find yourself toppling to the floor, as a weight hit you right in the chest and let you groaning on the ground.

"O-owch? –"

"What's **that** persian doing here?" you heard Meowth hiss, only to be pushed away by James, while Jessie let out a snort in response.

"Yes. What's the Boss' cat doing here? –"

"B-boss?" you barely managed to mumble in your dizzy state, only to sigh as you felt your face being licked by a rough tongue, and you couldn't stop the giggle that left your breath. "H-hey! Rob, you're!... You're heavy! Get off," you groaned as you tried to shield your face from the licks and the nuzzling, only to feel a familiar purring noise coming from the comforting feline, and all you could do is let out a tired defeated sigh.

"Sylvia?" you heard a voice, so stern, yet so familiar, that you couldn't stop yourself from pushing the persian off of you with one simple nudge, barely sitting upright as you noticed just how quiet the room had gotten, and how everyone seemed to be bowing as your father walked into the room, his hardened eyes honed in on you.

"Ah… h-hey dad," you responded, hesitantly, as you carefully began to shift yourself to your feet, letting out a slight hiss over the strain in your muscles, but you finally managed to push yourself up onto your feet as you patted the top of your father's persian's head, scratching her behind the ears in the same way you had been doing with Meowth. "Long time no see?"


	9. To be a Rocket 1

**A/N: HEY! I finally got to the point in the story I wanted to. Only took 8 chapters. Oh well.**

**The great confrontation! Usually I don't leave a reminder of what the ending to the last chapter was, but I decided to switch it up. I honestly wasn't sure how I would set this all up. The first time I attempted writing this story, I scrapped it because I didn't like where this went. Well… I'm currently writing chapter 22, so obviously I like where this story is going.**

**There are several different stories with Giovanni. Some of them have him as some meanacing antagonist, others as a sympathetic character. I tried to switch it up. That's why he's not quite as bad of a guy as I could have wrote him. And his persian? From the anime, some people say his persian is a female, some say male, but the fanfics I've read, most make his persian a female. So I decided to make her female. And I was thinking about making her a shiny or not… but right now I don't think it matters. Some sources say that, in the earlier seasons, the persian may have been shiny. Before shiny 'mons in Johto were implemented. Well, I think it was just the colors and lighting used in the anime, but shiny or not, a persian shiny is hard to notice. I don't even know if the anime has shown us an actual shiny persian. But, hey. I haven't even stated if it is a discolored persian. So if you guys would like me to interpret the persian as shiny, leave a COMMENT! And if no one does, I may just make it a normal coated persian. I don't think it matters too much for the plot of the story.**

**But yeah! Initially I was going to post this chapter much later, compared to chapter 7. I wasn't going to post it till the next day… but I'd rather post this chapter now, before my life gets busy again. Oh well! **

**Anyways, I hope you guys are ENJOYING yourselves! I'll leave the a/n here and let you guys get to the story. ENJOY!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

)(*&^%$# !

"_Ah… h-hey dad," you responded, hesitantly, as you carefully began to shift yourself to your feet, letting out a slight hiss over the strain in your muscles, but you finally managed to push yourself up onto your feet as you patted the top of your father's persian's head, scratching her behind the ears in the same way you had been doing with Meowth. "Long time no see?"_

! #$%^&*()

But as you saw the stern, rather emotionless look on his face, obvious anger stewing on his face, you quickly put out your hands in a defensive stance. "H-hey. I get it. You're mad, but I can explain myself. I-I just couldn't think about apologizing over the phone a-and –" but your voice left your breath as you let a surprised squeak leave your breath. You felt the air in your lungs leave you just slightly, but as your father wordlessly pulled you into his chest, his head leaning down onto your shoulder as he brought your head against his shoulder, you hesitantly put your arms around him… only to feel a wave of emotions slamming into you all at once as you gripped him into a tight hug, slumping your head into your father's comforting shoulder as you began to let out soft, held back, whimpering cries.

"I'm sorry," you heard your father whisper so quietly, so softly you barely heard his words, but his gentler tone of voice caused more tears to appear as you began to outright sob. The world around you stood still. The eyes, the stares, faded away as you held onto your father for dear life.

And he hugged you, just as tightly. Holding back tears you know he wanted to shed, but didn't dare to. Especially in public, but that was okay. That didn't matter… because he's here, now. "I-I'm… I'm sorry babbo," you spoke in a mumble, and all you could hear in a deep breath leaving his lips, and his grip on your head tightening, just slightly. As if he was cradling you close to him. Refusing to let you go, ever again.

"Sei al sicuro con me. That's all that matters," he told you, before he slowly lifted his head, letting you go, as he placed his arms on your shoulders so he could have a better look at you. "My… you're looking more like your mother," he smiled fondly, causing you to pout in response.

"N-not really –"

"Sbrigati. We should have a **private** chat," he told you, calmly standing up straight while you let out a shaky sigh. Unable to stop yourself as you smiled a bit more brighter then usual.

But you reached for your face, rubbing at the tears that you had shed in slight irritation, and while you heard your father saying something to Archer, and probably to the Rockets around you, you knelt down in front of the persian and gave her a smile, before scratching her behind her ears and around her neck. "Sono felice di rivederti," you told her, patting the top of her head before you fully recovered onto your feet, glancing at the Rockets you had been talking to, and noticing their shock, hurt, and even irritated looks on their faces. Even Meowth was surprised, causing you to look away with a pained expression on your face, but you closed your eyes and breathed.

Breathe… it's okay… No, it's not really okay. Everyone is going to look at you differently from now on, but… s-so be it? You suppose –

"Bambina," you heard your father call out to you, to snap you out of your thoughts, and with a confirmed nudge from his persian you started walking, but you didn't look to happy about the situation.

It was a mixture of pain, nervousness, and uncertainty.

Everything has changed now… there's no going back, now…

Crap.

Crap, just crap.

Your usual smile or even irritated look was somber. Dulled. Your eyes stared blankly, your ears barely listening to anything around you, while you sighed to yourself. The only thing that kept you from jolting away was the persian beside your leg, walking alongside you, even before she cast the talking meowth a devious smirk, causing the feline to hiss in response, but you didn't care.

You just… feel so dead… right now.

You thought maybe you could blame all of this on the boss of Team Rocket. The whole reason why your father is the way he is. Why he's not there. Uncaring, at times. You lied, a bit. There have been times he missed important parts in your life, trying to apologize with a day out of fun or maybe something expensive. Or pretty. Still… he's missed birthdays… and important parent days that you cannot get back. Days that you wished he was there, with you, but he never was. Always had an excuse not to be with you, for one reason or another.

Always because of his important work, and now…

Just… why? Why?

Is your family just a really bad family? Is that it?

Your steps were a blur. You just followed, obeyed, without questioning anything. You stayed silent, barely giving a 'yes' or 'no' to any question thrown your way.

But eventually you found yourself stopping, almost running into a chair in your daze, and you noticed your father was giving you an unsure, but then worried look, before he sighed and slowly sat down into a large black leather chair, behind a large rustic mahogany desk. You realized that it was just the two of you in this large, red, gray, and black office room. Roberta found a pokemat in the corner, slumping down, but she kept her head up as she waited for the two of you to do something.

Except all you could do is stare back at him.

Did your father always look this old? His lightly tanned olive skin, crinkled and starting to get wrinkled. His dark brown locks of hair slightly turning… grayer. His dark brown eyes looked tired. Duller…

Yeah. Alex was right. What if he dies one day? Out of the blue? You'll regret not speaking with him before that happens… or at the very least finding closure.

You closed your eyes, letting out a shaky breath, before your eyelids snapped open and you let your eyes narrow. Determination written all over your face as you took a fairly dramatic step forward, moving past a single chair that had been placed in the center of the room to get closer to the desk your father sat casually behind. "I, I know I need to explain myself. I've done some very reckless and stupid things, but… I know I'll regret not talking with you. One on one. To at least explain myself.

"Dad… I'm sorry. I'm sorry for running away from the boarding school. For collaborating with your enemies. For yelling at you a-and accusing you of being a stupid, stuffy old man. I'm sorry for my behavior, a-and coming here unannounced, like this," you spoke, but by the end of your little speech you felt your voice catching in your throat, your lips unable to utter another word.

Not like you had much to say. It's just…

"I should have listened to you. You were right about Team Galactic. Cyrus. All of it. Y-you were right about everything a-and I'm –"

"Sylvia," he spoke, cutting you off, and he watched you as you let out a shaky breath, a similar fear he's seen on the face of many others before you, standing in the very same spot you are. Except this time… he didn't find any pleasure in your fear. In your shame.

He gave you a hurt look just seeing you this way. His daughter, cowering like some coward. Her confidence, shattered. "… I'm the one who needs to apologize."

"N-no, I –"

"I've been pushing you away. Making promises I never kept. I did everything for your safety, but… in the end that was the worst choice I could have made," he stated, slowly rising to his feet, again, and calmly walking from behind his desk, his hand running against the end of the polished wood as he sighed deeply, and finally let his true emotions through as he looked at you with a tired, exhausted look on his face, with a hint of relief in his eyes. No, maybe not relief… perhaps satisfaction? Approval? "My first mistake was never, ever telling you what I… your late grandmother and I have done, for years. The second, was letting you run away and not bothering to chase after you.

"I didn't want you to go on a journey because the world is not kind to people like us. Anyone and everyone, if they figured out who you are, could kill you without a second thought. Hurt you. Do something… that I wouldn't be able to stop, but I should have supported you. You had been dreaming to go on an adventure like your mother and I did. I shouldn't have kept you from your dreams."

"B-babbo," you couldn't help but say, with a sad look on your face, looking up at him as he drew closer, but he stood a couple of feet away. "B-but my dreams –"

"Could be farfetch'd, but they are still dreams I shouldn't have tried to squash," he stated, pausing for a moment, before he reached for the back of his head and scratched his head, his properly combed and gelled hair loosening slightly to reveal how naturally wavy his hair actually is. "I was always afraid."

"Afraid?" you couldn't help but cut into the conversation, only to put your hands impulsively to your lips to stop yourself from speaking, but he chuckled dryly at your outburst.

"Yes, child. Even I can be afraid.

"Afraid that I would lose you, like I lost your mother. I know you didn't know the woman very well. Barely recall her face," he stated, his eyes glancing to the side as he stared at a far off bookshelf, before his eyes turned back to you and he couldn't stop himself from smiling. Sadly. "But you look so much like her, and you act like her, as well."

"I doubt it," you scoffed, reaching into your pocket and pulling out a folded up photo, and you unfolded it, glancing at the picture with a fond look on your face, before handing it over to your father and letting him see it. You could see the wave of sadness that fell over his strained features, as you smile lightly at the picture of your happy, young, perfect parents, and the little baby in your mother's arms as they excitedly took a photo with you. "She has dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. And a much paler complexion then me. If anything, I look more like you," you stated matter-of-factly, only to glance at your father as he chuckled bitterly at your words, handing the photo back to you as you stared down at the image, smiling happily at the scene.

"I remember that day," he couldn't help but say, causing you to look up at him with wide eyes as he smiled fondly at you. A sparkle in his eyes that you never truly get to see, anymore. Considering that the years leading up to your running off was full of shouting and anger. You barely remember a time when you… could enjoy him, like this. "It was your first birthday and your mother wanted to have a picnic in the park. She dragged me away from the gym to do it. That's why I'm wearing the causal suit," he explained, your eyes noticing that, yes, he was wearing a casual suit, without his usual tie.

"What I should mean," he decided to say, closing his eyes for a moment and sighing deeply to himself, all the while you began to look up at him as he opened his eyes and looked down at your own, "is that… I'm ecstatic that you act more like your mother then myself."

"In what way? –"

"You're a very determined child. Who won't take no for an answer. Her blunt, but kind nature is why I was attracted to your mother in the first place," he told you with a smile, before his smile faded, slightly, as his gaze became saddened. "I… was selfish, Sylvia. I shouldn't have… I'm sorry that I didn't try to be there for you, when you needed me the most –"

"Dad," you spoke, getting his attention as you walked over to him, shortening the distance between the two of you, and calmly you wrapped your arms around his body, only to feel his arms reaching around to hug you back. You both stayed that way, not saying a word, your eyelids closing as you enjoyed his familiar musky and cologne scent. His familiar broad shoulders… but you pushed back the tears you wanted to shed. You already cried. You needed to talk, now. "I… I understand your fears," you stated, and slowly he pried you away, looking down at you as you stared sadly up at him. Enough to bring a stray tear to your eyes, and you moved away to wipe away the tears before you continued with a shaky breath. "But… you can't let fear stop you from living your life.

"You told me that, once. W-when I was scared at the all girls' school. That I can't let fear dictate my life. So… if I had stopped when things got hard, I never would have reached my goals. And I'm not even talking about being a champion. I'm talking about just finish the pokemon league challenge. Or catching 'mons that were a bit harder then most to catch. Sleeping in tents and journeying with people I didn't particularly care for, at first.

"I lost a lot, dad. Pokemon, partners… friends. Human friends, too. It… it hurts," you continued, and you could feel your tears clouding your vision, making him blurry, but you kept going with a shaky breath, "but… I won't let fear stop me.

"R-right?" you asked, with an unsure tone in your voice, only to flinch as you felt his finger flick your tear away before his palm rubbed against your cheek.

You looked at him with wide eyes, before you began to sniffle and close them, letting a few stray tears slip from your eyes while he sighed to himself. "I'm a terrible father," he spoke, but he let out a surprised 'oof' as you suddenly jumped forward, grabbing him in another hug, which he happily accepted.

"You're the best father, daddy. I love you," you mumbled, sniffling as you felt his hand rubbing your back, as he held you close and sighed deeply in response.

"Ti amo di più. Non ti lascerò di nuovo."

"I-il babbo," you couldn't help but respond, letting your father hug you tightly as the two of you fell silent, again.

But… you felt like things will be okay again. Life is messy, but… it's always been messy.

And you have your father back.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"I will admit. This is a lot to take in," you chuckled nervously while your father smirked back at you. His devious grin causing you to smirk in response while he calmly poured himself a shot of whisky, and you eyed him curiously before letting out a sigh. "You do know alcohol isn't good for you."

"Are you lecturing me child?" your father responded and while his voice sounded rough you could tell he was playing with you, but he put the shot glass back on the small table, though his eyes were still scanning his liquor cabinet. "… You didn't take one, did you?"

"Why would I?" you scoffed with a shrug. "I'm old enough to legally drink. But, once you're allowed the thrill of getting drunk as a minor kind of goes away."

"True," he smirked at your reasoning, but he took the bottle of half full whisky and his full shot glass, and he downed the shot in a quick motion before he sat down in a plush chair, setting the two items on the coffee table as he looked at you from across the table.

After the mess that happened after the two of you reunited and accepted each other's apologizes, the rest of the day was, well… exhausting. You were a bit confused that your father let you stay in his office as he finished his business, talking with various people, making phone calls, and loads of paperwork to sign, before you both finally had some dinner.

Now, this is after dinner. After he let you have a glass of red wine, which rarely happens, but you accepted the alcohol without question. After he had lit a cigar and caused the apartment to smell like cigar smoke, even though he opened a tiny window that would be too small for anyone to squeeze through, even a 'mon, unless they were a very small one, and a fan in the kitchen was blowing some of the clean air in, and smoky air out, while he continued to drink.

You know your dad likes his whisky and wine, and even cigars on occasion. He likes to smoke when he succeeds and is celebrating a swift victory, which is what you assumed happened in Sinnoh. You're still not fully clear on what happened, but as long as Team Galactic disappeared for good… you'll call that a victory in your book.

But, even this is a bit excessive. Perhaps your father didn't start to drink **this** much until recently?... Was it because you left him?

"So, where shall I start?" he sighed to himself, his words causing you to look over at him, a confused look on your face, while he sat back in the couch with his shoeless feet on the edge of the coffee table. His eyes stared at the brown liquid back in his shot glass, and he stirred the liquid, staring at it with a tired look on his face, before he sipped half of the glass before his gaze fell upon you. "To be honest, kid, I would have told you this… mess that we call our family eventually, but I wanted to wait till you were older."

"I'm almost seventeen. So isn't that old enough?" you stated, hoping that was enough to convince the man that he could talk about… a family you never knew. A life you never did understand.

All you know is that there are secrets. Mountains of secrets… that no one should know about. Ever. If you don't know then you shouldn't know, and knowing could lead to more problems. If you're told something, then you keep it to yourself.

"Your name isn't really Sylvia Sakaki," your father began, his eyes gazing over at his persian, who had curled up on another pokemat located in the living room, close to the hallway and up against the wall, before he continued. "In the Viridian records, you wouldn't be able to find your name. At least not the Sakaki. I've gone by many aliases over the years, but your mother suggested Sakaki, so I've told you that your name is Sylvia Sakaki, and I am Giovanni Sakaki," he told you, his voice pausing as he stared at you, waiting for a reaction.

"Mother knew?" you couldn't help but ask in a hesitant tone, and his eyes watched as you began to toy with the necklace around your neck. At the arrowhead against your chest, and he smiled lightly before giving you a slight nod.

"Your mother used to be a Team Rocket grunt," he began, pausing for a moment before shaking his head. "No. I should say, she worked for a company. She was a telemarketer, but she became tired of the job and left that company. Ended up in one of the corporations that I happened to own, and that's how we met. She wasn't a criminal by any means. I liked it, that way, but she wanted you to have a good and happy life… then live like a criminal. Like I did, and considering I could provide that sort of life, the plan was that you two move out of Kanto," he told you, and your eyes stared at him sadly as you leaned into the armrest of the couch you were sitting on.

"But that didn't happen," you stated, as he nodded solemnly at your words, and you closed your eyes, tightly, sighing deeply as you looked up at him with a tired look on your face. "What's my name, then? Who even are you? Us?"

"You are Sylvia Mariam Rosso. My daughter," he told you, pausing for a moment before he reached for his bottle, pouring another shot before corking the top of the bottle and placing it off to the side as he stared at the liquid. "Your mother named you Sylvia because she liked the name. Also, because of your eyes. Maria is my mother's name, and your mother liked the idea of using Mariam instead of Maria.

"Rosso is our real surname. We don't talk about it with anyone. Not even Archer or Ariana knows my last name. Only those who worked in Team Rocket when my mother was in charge, but by the time she changed her name, as far as everyone else is concerned, to Rocket, I wasn't even born yet. Not that many people would even know the Rosso-Rocket connection," he tried to explain, gulping down his shot, and aggressively placing it down on a stand beside him, before he returned his attention back to you. "Rosso is from the old country. Where our… your great grandparents come from. My mother is half Italian, half Kantonese. I don't know why your great grandparents left, but they needed to leave and started a live here, in Kanto. Viridian, to be exact. On the Kantonese side, according to my mother, there was a tradition about having children, at least the first born, in the Viridian Forest.

"Locals always said that children born in the Viridian Forest could gain secret powers, and strangely enough there are many local tales across the globe about the idea of having a child in the forest, and they will be able to communicate with pokemon in a way others cannot… How true that is," he continued, his gaze looking over at you before he smirked to himself, "well… regardless if it's true or not, your grandmother was born in the forest, and so was I. As were you.

"Your grandmother, Maria Rosso, or Madame Boss as far as the Rockets are concerned, founded Team Rocket. I took over when she passed away by…" he paused, but you decided to say for him.

"She was killed," you responded, causing him to nod to himself.

"Murdered by her enemies, but I dealt with them," he told you, bluntly, before sighing and leaning back into the couch, closing his eyes and letting out an exhausted sigh. "At the time, I was just about your age. But unlike you, I didn't even know about my mother's affiliation with the team. She was… we had a terrible relationship, which is why I tried so hard with you. I didn't want you thinking I ever abandoned you," he told you, his eyes opening as he gave you a crude smirk, "but it didn't matter, did it? I did abandon you, didn't I?"

"No," you scoffed, but before he could retort your response, you quickly continued, "you didn't abandon me, dad. I left… I've talked to people whose parents absolutely hated them. Beat them up. Did other sorts of… crap. You aren't like that," you stated, and while he didn't seem too convinced by your words, you know that your words held true.

Even if he drinks, he never hit you. Beat you purple and black. Burn your skin with a cigarette. Hurt you emotionally.

If anything, he's tried his best to raise you, the best he could. As a single father. You rarely saw any 'lovers' you're sure he's had over the years. But he never forced you to see the ugly truth, which you were blinded by… for the longest time. His own pain, for losing his wife. The hate for his job. The fact that he cannot enjoy himself in his own home, for very long. He'll be gone from the estate in a span of a week. Two, at the most, and gone for long lengths of time. But, you weren't entirely abandoned. There were trusted servants, which you're sure were actually Rocket agents… probably. Considering the circumstances.

You know about kids who were left home alone as their parents went to work. Or parent. Or guardian. Kids in the 'system' as orphans were worse off, though.

That's why… you don't hate criminals and gang members as much as you used to. Don't exactly hate Team Rocket grunts, especially. It's a way to earn easy money. You get that.

But those that try to **destroy** the world… and upset the natural balance of the world by bringing about war… Yeah. No. You won't let that happen. No matter what.

"Whatever," he finally stated with an irritable sigh, too tired to argue while you gave him a meek smile in return. "Either way, as far as the records are concerned, you are Sylvia Mariam Rosso. But, around here your last name is Rocket, actually… You can keep the surname Sakaki if you wish," he decided to say, as if he realized that, maybe, you didn't want to accept everything he was telling you.

Which is a good enough conclusion.

You are this year's Kalos champion. Under the name of Sylvia 'Silver' Sakaki. As far as the public is concerned, that's your name. That's who you are. You've kept the truth that your father is the Viridian gym leader… for the most part, but that's one piece of information that would slip, from time to time. That he's a gym leader. That's why he's never around. Why you don't have time to talk with him. It's not the entire truth, and…

You doubt the police are that naïve. Either they've been bribed by the team, members of Team Rocket are part of the system, which you could believe, or perhaps it's everything. Interpol is a reason why you began to suspect that these agencies know more about you then you thought.

Which was true. Looker must have known that you can become a valuable asset, as the Team Rocket Boss' child. A potential heir. A valuable source of information.

But… too bad for him, you didn't have a clue about any of that.

And any true merit you earned with that agency, with Looker, was by your own worth. Your conviction. Your determination. The fact that you fought tooth and nail against Team Galactic, and then Team Flare. That… you're a good trainer… and almost died, trying to do the right thing. It was the 'doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do' that Looker looked at you, differently, after that moment. That he stopped seeing you with a judgmental gaze, but instead relied on you as a valuable ally.

Not that he's the only one you can rely on, but… he did make it easier. And you figured out just how… aloof you've been about your family's background. After your father. The shadiness that you refused to look at, even if it was right in your face, at times.

You just didn't want to stay naïve anymore. That's all.

"… If I were to change my name to Rocket," you began, watching as the haze that seemed to be glossed in his eyes turned sharp at your words, but you continued seriously, "what would that mean? And even if I don't, and publicly I keep Sakaki and never use the surname Rocket, even here, would that change anything?"

"I would advise," he began, pausing before he sighed to himself, "is that, as far as the public is concerned, you're still Sylvia Sakaki. After all, I'm still Giovanni Sakaki, Viridian City gym leader. Within the team… you can just walk away, bambina. After today, after you decide that you're tired of this place, you don't ever have to return here. I won't even hand over the team to you, unlike my mother forcing her messes upon me… What do you want?" he finally asked, and you gave him a slight chuckle, causing him to raise a curious eyebrow. "What?"

"Ironically… the thought recently crossed my mind about joining Team Rocket," you began, noticing his eyes staring at you with a look you haven't seen from him in a long while. Maybe it's… shock? Or fear? "That's why I helped with the whole hacking thing, after all. Not just because I want to see Team Galactic burn to the ground, but it's like… a trial run. Cause… being a trainer doesn't make money, in the end. I enjoy going on journeys, but that doesn't mean I can keep doing this sort of thing, forever," you told him, noticing his eyes softening as you sighed and scratched at your head in frustration. "Sure, I could try the whole celebrity thing, but after a while people won't care about me as a champion. Becoming a reigning champion, sure, but then I'm working for the pokemon league, and you've told me just how shady they are… and they are. I've seen it first hand.

"A gym leader? Maybe even reaching the status of elite four? Maybe, but I still have to abide by their rules, and my income is determined by the league. So, I've narrowed it down," you continued, your eyes gazing away from his own as you continued to think out loud. "I was thinking, considering I have a GED, a proper diploma from my work as Professor Oak's assistant, maybe I could go to university and aim for a master's degree? In the sciences. Maybe become a scientist or something like that. A researcher.

"Or, programming. Start a programming business… a security business, perhaps? Hacking. I've always been good at that. Porgyons just make the process easier, but coding just looks so… simple to me," you decided to tell him, before flashing him a slight grin. "Thing is… i-it's a tough decision. Deciding upon what you want to do with the rest of your life.

"You gave me so many opportunities so I cannot thank you enough, but… no matter what I decided to do, I knew that… I could not go on with my life without see you. My only relative. You always told me family is everything. Your friends may change, but your family doesn't… I wouldn't be able to live another twenty years without making sure we were, ah… alright," you finished, giving him a meek, nervous smile while he sighed and nodded his head, returning your own smile with one of his own.

"You have a lot of choices to make, Sylvia, and I'm proud to have such a smart girl for a daughter… Don't think that you need to stay here because of what I've told you. Your life is your own, and I want you to think that way. You don't need to be some heir to Team Rocket or follow in my footsteps. I want you to live a happy life, and that's what your mother would have wanted, too.

"Though, if you make the decision of continuing on the path of a typical trainer, I will happily hand over the gym to you," he smirked, causing you to roll your eyes and sigh to yourself, "_**and~**_ I could pull some strings to make sure you get into the best university –"

"While that's very thoughtful of you, dad," you began, pausing before shaking your head and chuckling dryly to yourself, "I want to reach my goals on my own merit," you told him, and he snickered to himself.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you," he responded, causing you to nod your head, before you shook your head and glanced away, causing him to look at you with a curious gaze. "… What's wrong?"

"… Will you really not prevent me to stay?" you had to ask, watching as his eyes widened, before narrowing in suspicion.

"Why would you want to? We're a criminal gang and –"

"I-I just… I don't know what I want to do, really. To just… go back to living on my own all the time? I'm not sure if I…" you frowned to yourself, only for your head to snap up as you heard your father standing up, suddenly slumping down into the seat next to you, and slumping an arm over your shoulder, sighing deeply as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the back of the couch.

"Is that what you want, though? To be labeled a criminal?... You're a smart child, Sylvia. I've watched you, from afar. Governments and agencies will do anything to eliminate someone they see as a threat. The moment you display any influence over this team, the threats on your life will increase. I'm sure. Not to scare you, but…" you watched as he sighed, obviously thinking about something… personal.

Mum. Maybe his own mother. Who knows?

You could feel him flinch as you leaned into him, enjoying the fact that, well… your father is here. And you're not spending the night up, awake, wondering if you're ever going to talk to him ever again. "Will you honor my choice? No matter how stupid it could be?" you decided to ask, waiting for a response, and you heard him deeply scoff at your question.

"Sì," he responded in a soft, though hesitant tone of voice, only to flinch as you sat up, kissed him on the cheek, and then slipped off of the couch.

"I'm going to head to bed. Are you going to be okay?" you had to ask, earning you a content smile in response.

"Of course –"

"Rob. Please keep an eye on this one, could you?" you told the persian, patting the top of her head as you walked out of the living room, even though the, now awake, persian began to follow you into the guest room, before standing by the door, eying you while you turned on the light and looked around.

Your eyes fell upon your bag, sitting on top of the bed. You eyed it… before calmly making your way to the bag, and sighing deeply to yourself. "Sorry dad," you couldn't help but say as you began to take out a few of your belongings, placing them around the room in particular locations.

You don't want to leave, yet. It's just…

Maybe you really are an evil person, in your gut.

Maybe Cyrus is right about you…

But, you won't let him get the better of you. No matter what that idiot says. And…

You have a feeling… if you leave now, without feeling… alright about any of this, then you won't be able to stare your dad in the eyes, again, without seeing a criminal. A murderer…

That's the thing, though. You're exactly like your father, aren't you? A criminal. Murderer… everything your mother didn't want you to be…

Why does life have to be so hard?

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

_sei al sicuro con me_ [Italian] – you're safe with me

_sbrigati_ [Italian] – hurry up

_Sono felice di rivederti_ [Italian] – I'm happy to see you again

_non ti lascerò di nuovo_ [Italian] – I will not leave you again

_sì_ [Italian] – yes


	10. To be a Rocket 2

**A/N: HEY GUYS! Honestly, I wasn't going to post another chapter. I've been feeling rather tired and lazy lately, but I just woke up refreshed and ready to be somewhat productive! Though sleeping in the middle of the heat, during the day, can give a person a headache. Which isn't fun.**

**Anyways, I would like to remind that this story is for fun. I'm not quite sure if I'm going somewhere with the plot, but this is a story where Silver figures out where she's going and what she wants to do. Finding answers about herself that has been hidden, ever since she started asking. If anything, the seeking of knowledge has always been ingrained in her because she was always given roundabout answers from her father. So, there you go, if you're wondering why Silver is working so hard to find out more information.**

**I'm deciding if I want to have a large array of OCs or not. So far, I've written in Jessie, James, & Meowth, Domino to a certain extent… Archer, Ariana, and Petrel, but not really Proton. I haven't really thought about how Silver and Proton can actually get along… so… is there a Team Rocket member you'd like to see more often? I did have Cassidy and Butch show up a chapter or two ago, but I don't know. I never really cared for those two, but I do like how Cassidy and Jessie seems to have some sort of past dynamic. A reason for resenting each other. So… should I add more while I'm at it?**

**Okay. That's enough about that. I hope you guys are ENJOYING yourselves, and enjoy your week!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

A tired sigh left your breath as you suddenly felt a heavy weight on your chest, followed by a paw nudging your face, and a rough lick upon your nose. Your eyes opened to notice a familiar feline on top of you, her familiar red eyes staring into your tired silver, and you let another sigh leave your breath. "… I'm waking up. You can get off of me," you mumbled in irritation, waiting for the persian to shift off of you before you began to shift your body, letting out a deep yawn and stretching your arms, and you smirked as you noticed the persian was yawning in response to your yawn, as well. "I'd rather be lazy today, you know," you huffed, but knowing your complaints are futile against the very 'mon that treated you like one of her kittens, regardless if you wanted that or not, you let yourself stumble out of your bed, making your way into the bathroom, before eventually wandering back into your bedroom to find the persian on top of your bed in the very spot you were sleeping in.

"Stealing my heat, eh?" you scoffed, but you didn't bother to stay angry with this persian for longer then a minute as you began to look through your belongings, deciding upon what to wear. If you should wear anything. If you'd rather shuffle into the kitchen to eat, or at the very least put something decent on, other then having your pajamas on.

Honestly, you have no idea what this day is going to bring. If you should bother with a cute outfit or not. You decided to slip on a pair of pants and a tee shirt, knowing that persian was going to stay in your room and probably had her breakfast, by now, so instead you didn't bother to do anything else as you made your way down the narrow and short hallway, into the living room/kitchen/dining room space. You smirked to yourself, noticing your father was sitting at the table, reading a newspaper and drinking a cup of black, strong coffee. The smell of strong coffee filled your senses, and you drifted over to the coffee pot, noticing half of the pot had been brewed, and still hot on the hot plate, so you filled yourself a cup of coffee. Adding a little bit of sugar and cream just to dilute the taste of bitter coffee, a tad. Helping you drink the liquid as quickly as possible.

Knowing your dad, he didn't bother to order food for you. Didn't even think about it, but that didn't matter. You know how things go when it comes to your father, and instead you wandered to the wooden dining table, sitting down and calmly sipping your coffee in a desperate attempt to wake yourself up. If washing your face because of the feline's licks wasn't enough.

"Any plans for the day?" you heard your father ask as he sipped his coffee, as you sipped your own at the thought.

You are not a morning person, and you've quickly realized your father isn't, either. But, work starts early. So the moment you learned the importance of a cup of coffee, you've been drinking the stuff just to stay as alert as possible. Though, a nap sounds great right about now, you couldn't help but think as you continued to sip on your hot mug. "… Not really. If you work, then I'll be working. If not, we can do something today. I don't care," you answered, a bit rudely some people would think, but you're not awake and he's not awake.

"You work?" he responded, but you simply looked over at him with half tired eyes.

"Yes. Duh."

"What type?" he asked, in the same monotone tone as before, and you could tell he was still waking up. This must be his first cup of coffee for the day.

"Well…" you began with a sigh, sitting up in your chair in an attempt to wake yourself up. "I don't know if anyone told you, Petrel or Archer I suppose, but I was unconscious for a while. Exhausted," you stated, pausing for a moment before continuing, "so I have a good week's amount of work to get through. Answering phone calls… messages… talking to the professor. That sort of stuff."

"Huh… I see," he responded, the two of you growing silent at the sound of paper crinkling as he turned the page, and you sipping rather loudly on your own cup of coffee was all that could be heard.

But… this is nice. You haven't sat down for breakfast like this, with your father, since you were… well, maybe ten? Eleven? Before things truly began to suck. Heck, it's been a while since you've been at the family manor, now haven't you? Hmmm…

"Also, there's some data I have to leaf through," you decided to say, recalling that, yes, you had taken the time to attempt to download as much data from Team Galactic as possible, before completely corrupting and destroying their servers and computer systems.

"Team Galactic," he stated as he flipped to another page, before sighing to himself. "… What will you do with it?"

"Sell it. What I think could be useful to other people, but there was something I wanted to find… and then delete, entirely. A few things, so that won't be for sale," you stated, sipping on your coffee again, only to notice your father was looking at you past his newspaper. "… What?"

"For sell? You don't care about losing such valuable information? –"

"The coppers will pay a hefty sum for information on Team Galactic, but of course I can get a nice amount of money from selling the information on the black market… I know," you rolled your eyes, "you think I shouldn't be doing this, but why not? If I have precious info no one else has. Besides, I doubt most of the information will be useful –"

"I'll buy," he spoke, his words getting your attention as you looked over at him with a critical stare.

"… How much?"

"How much are you offering?" he countered, causing you to sigh and rub at your face.

"Just because you're my dad doesn't mean I'll give you a discount –"

"How about this?" he began, placing his newspaper on the table as he began to drink his coffee, almost finishing the cup before continuing calmly, but also confidently. "Team Rocket owes you, already. I'll wire you the money we, or rather you, had negotiated. But, for the raw information, I'll pay you for the data, and then pay to go through the data," he spoke, causing you to look over at him with wide eyes to notice that, no, he wasn't joking. "… Do we have a deal?"

"… Sure," you groaned, rubbing at your face again before grabbing your mug with both hands to sip the strong coffee and warm up your hands. "I have nothing better to do, honestly… but this time, at least be clear on what you want. And, that information I plan on deleting –"

"You can do that. I won't stop you –"

"Great. Also, next time, don't talk about business at the breakfast table like this. I'd rather keep my work and personal life separate," you told him, causing him to smirk.

"Si bambina," he chuckled to himself, finding your words amusing, but you sighed, resuming to sip on your coffee, while you thought over his offer.

It wasn't a bad offer. In fact, it's a great offer! But… you should make a couple of phone calls, at least, before you start doing that sort of work. It's been… at least a week of inactivity, from you. At the very least, you need to reassure some people that, yes, you're fine, and no, you're not dead. The grueling work can be left for later. The idea of working with your father likes this…

How can you pass up such a great opportunity?

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"You're still here?" you heard a huffy voice ask and you barely glanced over as you picked out your breakfast.

"Yes. Jessie… don't you have work or something?"

"We've been given a bit of a break. A few days, at least, before the Boss will surely assign us a new mission," she told you, her eyes just as tired as your own are, but she sat next to you letting an exhausted sigh leave her breath. "Seriously, twerp. I would think you'd run away, by now… is it true –"

"Don't… start," you responded as you sipped at your new cup of coffee, though this cafeteria blend isn't as delicious and rich as the one in your father's apartment. You're going to have to keep that in mind. "I'm processing a lot right now, so if you could just –"

"If I could make a comment?" she asked, cutting you off before you could tell her to leave you alone, but you just glared. Waiting for the woman to continue as she glared back, before she looked away and grumbled underneath her breath. "Look… I get it. The feelings you have right now."

"No you don't –"

"My mother worked for Team Rocket, a very long time ago. That's not something I tell anyone, but she was everything I had, until she disappeared one day and never came back," Jessie began, causing you to look at her sympathetically, but she continued with a snort. "But, what I want to explain is that, when I was a kid, I was given the offer to join Team Rocket. At the very least, start doing grunt work for the team."

"You are an agent though –"

"Yes, but I refused the offer and set off on a journey of my own," she told you, pausing for a moment before continuing with a tired sigh. "I tried many different opportunities that came my way. None of them stuck. Not in the same way Team Rocket did. What I'm trying to tell you is that, whatever your father told you about the team, you don't have to stay. You don't have to be a Rocket member, if you don't want to. You can continue to be that champion idol that you achieved on your own merits. Trust me. I'd love to be as great at battling as you are. You shouldn't give up on something that you earned, on your own. When I decided to join back up with the team, at that point, no one knew that I had been with this group preciously. It was a choice I made on my own," she told you, "and because I wanted to. Not because I had to.

"See what I'm saying?"

"… I shouldn't accept being forced to join Team Rocket. Is that what you're saying?" you responded, your questionable response causing the woman to give you an unsure look, but you smiled meekly and shook your head. "Thank you Jessie, but… that's not what I'm hung up on, right now."

"Then what?" she huffed, munching angerly on her cookie, but you shrugged your shoulders in response, your gaze falling on the far wall, before you glanced back to her with a sad, but light smile on your face.

"My father never, ever wanted me to join up with Team Rocket. Ever. He has done everything in his power to make sure that happened. If people from the team visited, they could never let it slip that they worked for a criminal organization. Couldn't say particular things, like how to steal or talk about the latest heist. In front of my face. I thought that my life was relatively normal until I was shipped away to a boarding school, where my personal problems with my father stems from. At first, I thought he abandoned me, but after talking to some peers there… I realized that, no. There was something else.

"I wasn't treated the same as most. I wasn't some middle class girl whose parents work hard to make sure she gets a perfect education. My name wasn't prominent enough in high society that anyone knew about me and considered me rich. I wasn't even considered part of the 'bad kids' who were only there because their parent was probably doing some bad illegal business. No. I wasn't even that. I was just… a nobody, and I accepted that because no one bothered me. I developed my own dreams and desires because no one expected anything from me. I didn't have to worry about running a family business, being an heiress, following in my parents' footsteps. None of that.

"But… I just never could figure out why my father wouldn't talk to me, about certain things. Cut me off when I tried to talk about my hobbies. My interests that involved anything bordering criminal acts. Even if it's only arson… or just breaking curfews. I just became madder and madder.

"I've learned a lot over the years. Trying to piece together information I could never ask my dad directly. If I did, he'd try to put a stop to my prying. I just… needed to know, you know? I uncovered a lot. Secrets I doubt even admins know about, and perhaps not even your executives. I figured he was a criminal, actually. I just never realized…" you paused, your gaze staring down at your food for a moment, before you let out a deep, exhausted sigh, before smiling lightly to yourself. "It's funny, now that I think about it. I was such a troublesome kid, and I still am.

"I know what my father wants. He wants me to just walk away. Forget about Team Rocket entirely and live my life the way I want to. The way he couldn't. But… that's the thing.

"After I tracked down my father, I was going to recruit myself into Team Rocket," you told her, noticing her eyes starting to widen as you continued in a tired, helpless tone of voice. "I-I… know some people here. Honestly. People who have helped me. Who I care about, a-and if I could just get closer… I was going to do just that. I reached my goal of a champion. I wanted to, at the very least, reach the top. Have the strongest 'mons. The best team. A fun journey, but after Sinnoh… it's feeling hollow. Lacking. Everyone is talking about what they plan on doing, but I still don't have a damn clue what I want to do with myself.

"I can't tell him that I was going to join. He'd just… be so disappointed," you continued with a pout, only to hear Jessie sighing deeply, her annoyed tone getting your attention.

"How? Just, be some grunt doing grunt work?"

"Probably. Everyone starts somewhere, right? And it's like you said. If I'm going to do something, I want to earn it. Not let it be handed to me on a silver platter. Besides, I'm a top notch hacker, who's one of the best in the world. Actually. In the world of programming and the deep web, I most certainly am. More of a whispered idol then I could ever be as a regional champion. And if not that, I do have information. And, I've always wanted to start some research projects," you couldn't help but say, bragging a bit, but your smile weaned as you sighed to yourself.

"Still… n-now –"

"It'll just be too easy. You wouldn't be earning your keep around here, and everyone will think that way," she responded, causing you to nod, slightly, before you yelped as she huffed and poked the side of your cheek. "You dummy. You don't have to hold yourself back, like that."

"W-what do you mean? –"

"Kid, you're smart. A bit annoying, but when it comes to picking up on things, you tend to figure out problems quicker then me. Then James, even. And when you put your mind to something, you always succeed. At least partially. You shouldn't worry if you can't do it. What you should think about is **if** you want to do it. Do you really want to be a criminal for life? A researcher? Some… programmer hacker person? Or even some champion. Or a gym leader, or whatever else you come up with. The question is, what do you really want to do?"

"I-I don't know. That's the problem, and this visit didn't help me narrow my choices down –"

"Considering all your options, why do you think you should be a Team Rocket member? Seriously? Because the pay is low and your life is always at risk. One slip and you could get killed, by your enemies and even the boss. No offence."

"None taken," you responded simply. Though, yes, the thought of your father actually killing people unnerved you, but you're sure it's happened. Many times… over and over… to the point that it's become a routine. You understand why he would do such a thing, in his position, but… doesn't mean you can fully accept that side of him, yet. That's just… a bit too hard, right now.

Even if you're just as bad as he is, if you're going to be completely honest with yourself.

"I fell back on the team because it was one of my only options. With you, you have many. Why become a lowlife like the rest of us?"

"… Maybe I am just a very bad person," you couldn't help but say, noticing the miffed look in her eyes suddenly turning hard and cold, but you continued with a shaky breath. "I'm… serious. I'm drawn to evil things like a venomoth to a flame. Could the answer just be that simple?"

"That's a stupid reason," Jessie scoffed, shaking her head while huffing underneath her breath. "You're not twisted, like the rest of us are. You aren't down on your luck or a psychopath. You care about people, and even pokemon. You're just as much of an annoying twerp as Ketchum is. Joining the team would mean the end to all of that. The niceness, gone. Kindness, gone –"

"I know," you told her, putting up a hand to stop her from continuing, and you let the silence between you settle… until you finally gathered your thoughts, your wits, and continued with a slight scoff. "Fine. I won't say that I'm drawn to evil or that I am evil. That hit a nerve, apparently. Fine…

"A better reason? Then just useful skills? The friends I know, here. The people I know. Living on the outside has taught me a lot a-and… the league is just as corrupt as any illegal criminal gang. What is legal is determined by their own decisions. Their own terms for justice, even if they lie and cheat and steal. If everyone is the same, then what's the point of caring?" you told her with a shrug. "I can work for myself, but just how much can I do as one person? Or a small corporation? And the governments? Some are worse then others. Some are even a reason why teams end up growing too powerful.

"Team Flare was backed up by the Kalos government, up until the bitter end. When the public truly saw how twisted their boss truly was. That they weren't just some fashionable group that wanted to make the world 'beautiful'. They wanted to destroy everything. Same with Team Galactic. Their boss had ties to the government, too. And I'm sure my father is no different.

"But that's the difference. Team Rocket doesn't aim to destroy everything. To change the world. All it's about is earning a profit and spreading a bit of chaos. With a bit of world domination mixed in for good taste. And I'm not blind. The team spans regions, and has grown over years and years. Decades, generations. The network is so vast no one can escape Team Rocket. No one.

"So, why not give it a chance? And join? And be closer to people I care about? And a way to further my own goals, goals I haven't quite decided upon, but still goals, nonetheless. Thoughts, desires, dreams. I can get things done through the team. I don't care anymore about moral values. A-and yes… if I could I'd change some stuff, but considering what I've had to deal with… I don't see why it's so wrong for me to be a Rocket, honestly," you concluded, only to hear the woman let out a tired sigh.

"If that's your decision, Silver, then that's good enough."

"Are you sure? –"

"Don't get the approval of others to do what you want to do. Just do it. Don't hold yourself back. Besides," she continued with a slight smirk on her face as she chewed on a piece of her sausage patty, "to have a kid like you on the team? We'd become unstoppable."

"I thought you already are," you smirked back, causing her to scoff in response.

"Team Rocket has its problems, twerp. But heck, maybe you like the idea of power. That's why you don't want to leave," she stated, her gaze falling on you as you scoffed in annoyance and shook your head.

"Maybe. Maybe not. A reason why I'm not sure anymore is because, that's how it'd go, wouldn't it? I'd end up being a damn leader. Or at the very least, a high ranking executive. I didn't want that type of pressure and responsibility. Then again, if someone else took dad's place, then they'd be threatened by me. Regardless of what I do," you decided to say, pausing as you ate before you let a crude smirk appear on your face. "Maybe that's the answer."

"What?" she scoffed, noticing the sinister look on your face, only to glance at you with an unsure look as you responded to her question.

"Even if I'm not a part of the team, I'll still have a target on my back. I'd have to erase everything about myself to just become a normal person, and honestly, do I want that? I worked so hard to be Silver Sakaki. To find my own path. So, if my path leads me to the team, why should I question it? Besides… if the team benefits me, rather then becomes another threat to me, then I have one place where I can find a bit of peace… Am I making the wrong choice?" you sighed to yourself, only to feel a hand on your shoulder, causing you turn to Jessie and give her a questionable look.

"It's the wrong choice if you regret making it, but you haven't even made that choice, yet. Obviously," she huffed. "So, stop worrying and start doing something."

"Y-yeah… I should start," you thought aloud, before you turned to her and gave her a nod and a smile. "Thank you, Jessie."

"For what? –"

"Helping me talk through this. My thoughts… lately. I have a hard time figuring out my choices if I don't have someone sensible to talk to," you told her, and while she gave you a questionable look, she smirked in response.

"If it means helping out the future boss, then I'm happy to help."

"Whoever said that?" you scoffed in annoyance, but you couldn't help but smirk at her slight teasing. Or, at least you hope she's teasing you.

What's the point of turning back now? You know, now. That this Team Rocket is like a family legacy, then anything else. A family business… a crooked one, but still. But boss?... No. No, you're not ready for such a thing, right now. No way.

But you've been found out, already. You are sure whispers have been circulating around about the boss' mysterious kid. Maybe they think you weren't raised by him. Hunted him down to get a DNA test, or something like that. Or, it's the opposite. Rumors about that famous Kalos champion actually knowing the boss. That she's turning into a Rocket member. A potential recruit. Maybe that's it.

Either way, this is still a lot to take in at once… but, you do have a job to do. A bit of money will be coming your way, so you'll just… not worry, for a little while. Drown yourself in your work until you decide to worry about the repercussions of your actions, later.

Like usual.


	11. To be a Rocket 3

**A/N: HEY GUYS! Since I have today off, and nothing better to do, I decided to review another chapter and post it. I may end up being involved in the new Sims 4 island living pack, once it comes out officially today. I love the idea of the pack and to live on an active volcano? It's going to be awesome!**

**So, if I'm inactive for a few days/a week that's why. Other then that, I am looking to buy a working car, so at some point my priorities will be elsewhere. But I do have a lot of chapters already written! So who knows what'll happen! **

**Okay. That's about it. ENJOY YOURSELVES!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

It's been a couple of days of work, work, and more work. After making a few necessary phone calls, you found yourself stepping into a vast computer room, though it wasn't very full. Set up like a computer lab at a university, but no one was there. Just you… huh. You weren't expecting an entire computer lab to do you work, but at least now you're not fighting for a computer.

But, you never did like waking up this early. It didn't matter if it was for camping, school, or even at the house. You just hated it. You can stay up all hours of the night, but the moment you wake up… yeah. If it was anyone else waking you up this early you'd be yelling at them, but since it's your father you're biting your tongue… usually.

Yet, you were just about done. You're sure by the time you have lunch, you'll be done, which leaves the rest of your day open for… eh? Something fun? Or maybe you'll be working some more. Who knows.

Team Galactic's files have been a bit of a challenge to leaf through. You tossed out a lot of unnecessary information, as well as some important information you didn't want anyone to get their hands on, before asking your father what exactly **did** he want. Luckily for you, and a bit surprisingly, you didn't need to explain to him how this hacking business works and if the results are incomplete, then they'll be incomplete.

You just won't get paid as much, which'll suck. But fine.

You're kind of surprised, with your father, you continued to think as you began to get to work, plugging in your porygon2 into the computer and another flash drive, so you can continue with the grueling task of leafing through all this data. He's been rather… nice about all of this. He's even letting you keep the data, once everything is over and done with. Team Rocket will be given a raw, fully coded data, but you have the ability to request payment for that information towards someone else. Cutting up the info and sending it along, for a fee, of course. Thing is, Team Galactic is just about over and done with. The only people that would what this info would be the Sinnoh police, possibly some small company of scientists looking for particular research… but that'd be about it.

But, for now, this is what you're doing. So you shouldn't complain too much about this.

You're just a bit surprised over your father's… list.

You had to turn all this coding and data into easy, readable information. That's the step you're working on, now. A list of Team Galactic members, which you're not surprised by. If there are spies in the team, your father would want to know… and deal with that problem. A few pieces of research the team had been working on, that he wanted to take a look at. Pokemon manipulation/mind control, and any special projects no one would know about, except Team Galactic. All buildings and facilities the team owns, no matter how far away it could be from Sinnoh. And lastly, legendary 'mons, but that was the most tricky. If you could find the data in the first place.

That's the part where you had to argue with him. Especially since you went through this effort, to get rid of that particular information, which you did. How to create a Red Chain, and how to find the lake guardians. The intensive research on the creator of time, space, and antimatter. And even the information collected on Arceus. You deleted all of that… including Cyrus' true plans, which had been worked into some research that had happened at the team. That man didn't even tell anyone his true plans until the very last year, you believe.

But, you kept everything else. Even the proof that Cyrus is alive… even if you honestly didn't want to.

But the research done on the distortion world? If there's a possibility to jump from world to world like that?... Yeah, you cut most of that info out. So, even if your father decides to pry into that info himself, he's not going to find much. No one should go there… back there, ever. Never, ever.

Anyways, you're just about done with everything. You've had to convert the data onto a readable document, saving that document on your other, empty flash drive, before printing out a hard copy. That's kind of why you're in this computer lab. The printer works and the ink hasn't run dry… yet. And the mountains of paper you're collecting… geeze. It's so much! But, you know exactly what's in it, and you've paperclipped every 'document' set so you can tell one piece of info from the other.

The list of names. Projects and research. Even some extra info you bet your father would want to see – or rather, the boss of Team Rocket would love to see. A normal person would take at least a week to do this, but you're no normal hacker. And Ghost makes the tasks easier, that's for sure.

But if there's time, you'll probably try to talk to your father about a possible project you wanted to work on. Involving a mountain of porygon, porygon2 at least, and the info pertaining to how to create a porygon-z. That's one of the many projects Team Galactic had worked on, and a project that ultimately failed… its purpose. Porygon-z can reach space, sure, its true purpose didn't. It cannot live beyond the computer systems and cannot traverse space without a machine, there, to help it.

But if you can make a better disc for porygon2, the perfect cyberspace porygon model… the amount of money you'd get would be astronomical. Or, you could do something different and try to create a different disc entirely. Not for space, but possibly for something else?

You let a yawn escape your lips as you stood to your feet, waiting by the printer for your papers, before clipping them with a paper clip and walking back to your computer. Sitting back down with another yawn leaving your breath. Yep… you have some ideas, now. Though, if he says no, you'll have to find a different way to achieve your goals.

And you already have some ideas. Some potential 'clients'… partners, perhaps, who could fund you the money for your research. You may not have degrees, which is kind of why you've been thinking of going to university in the first place, but you certainly have the brains. Being a criminal truly is easier then not being one, but… the porygon research doesn't have to be used for the black market and the underworld. You just don't know if you can do the research, outside of such a scenario, without investing your own money into it. And that'd defeat the purpose… if you don't want to be losing money, and you'd probably scrap the idea if that happens.

But, you haven't tried to ask, yet, so you don't know how this'll go.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"Good morning Mrs. Kobayashi," you spoke as you stepped into your father's decently sized waiting room, calmly walking past the guards who stood by the doors, and up to the secretary's desk with a smile upon your face. "Is, ah, your boss busy?"

"Yes. He's talking to an agent," she told you, her head lifting as she smiled lightly at you, "but you may sit down, Ms. Sak –"

"Ms. Rocket is fine," you responded rather bluntly, causing the woman to stare you rather shocked, but then she smirked to herself. You couldn't help but cast her a suspicious glance before sitting down in an empty chair, sighing to yourself as you plopped your messenger bag beside you and you began to rummage through your belongings, before pulling out a pokeball. You glanced around, noticing two other Rockets, and the guards, before throwing up your pokeball and catching it with ease, releasing the greninja that was waiting patiently inside.

The only 'mon on your party small enough to fit into the offices like a human, and can kept quiet and follow orders. Noticing the circumstances, your greninja crossed her arms over her chest, standing beside you, with her eyes narrowed and silently judging every person in the room. "You can sit down Nina. It could be a while," you told her as you shoved her pokeball into a pocket, before reaching back into your bag, pulling out a phone, and lazily sitting back into the chair with an irritable sigh leaving your breath.

Well, might as well be productive, right?

But, instead of calling someone like Professor Oak or Cynthia, or even calling a league member, there was a few work related calls you could make no one would really know about, plus some private calls to people you haven't chatted with in a while. Finding a particular number, you pressed the call and brought the phone up to your ear, waiting patiently for the call to go through. "… Yes. Hello. The name is Ms. Sakaki. Your boss wanted to call me a few days ago?... Yes. I can hold," you spoke, your eyes glancing over at the secretary, knowing she was probably paying attention, and you smirked to yourself, before you heard a particular voice on the other line.

"Ciao. _**You wanted to talk?"**_ you asked, the sudden change from Kantonese to Italian confusing not just the secretary, you could tell, but the couple of agents waiting nervously in their chairs, eyes going wide while you continued. _**"A partnership you say? You do know I have a boyfriend, don't you? Hah! It's a joke! Don't get so mad,"**_ you snickered to yourself, noticing Nina was giving you an annoyed look, causing you to roll your eyes. _**"I have to keep my voice down, so if you could tell me –… Oh? Intriguing~… what do I get out of this transaction?... Nope. Yeah, no. Try again,"**_ you smirked to yourself, sighing as you crossed one leg casually on top of the other, and you began to lean on your knees while you waited for the answer. _**"… Just because your son likes me doesn't mean I care, sir – Yes, sir. Sorry, but –… Ah huh… hmm… There is something you could do for me,"**_ you finally stated, smirking slightly at the response you were given, before sighing to yourself.

"_**Please listen, will you? Anyways, you have a hold on Silph Co., right?... No, not that. I don't care about a pokeball. They've been researching something I want to get my hands on… Yeah. I have a feeling you can help me out,"**_ you told him, pausing for a moment before chuckling darkly. "_**Why, yes. Trust me, it'll be easy on your part. In fact, you could be robbing me at this point.**_

"_**What is it?... It's under code 5206-2573. E to M… Yeah. That's it. I just want those records. The research files… You can steal them if you want. Or just get me a copy, but if you do I'll agree to this, ah… whatever it is… Yeah. That… Deal?"**_ you asked in a curious tone, and when you got your answer you grinned deviously to yourself. "Pleasure doing business with you… Ah huh… _**I'm doing well, thanks. I'll talk to you again**_… Ciao," you responded, bluntly, ending the call, and you paused for a moment with a thoughtful look on your face, before you scrolled through a list of numbers you're going to have to save, and then transfer to another phone.

Stopping at a particular number, you pressed the button, bringing the phone to your ear, only to smile happily at the, almost, immediate response. "Hey. How are you?... I'm doing well, thanks. Yeah, I have to be cryptic. That's why.

"Hmm… Thank Arceus you're okay," you breathed, contently, pausing for a moment before you continued. "Oh! So, great news. I'll be getting the info you need in a few days… Yeah. I mean, I don't get why he hates Team Rocket, but he _loves~ me_… Kind of creepy, yeah. He is an old geezer… He has cute kids though – Don't be mad! Just an observation," you chuckled to yourself, before sighing and rubbing tiredly at your face. "So, how much longer till you're in Kanto?... Oh… It's been… crazy on my end.

"I… did. Yeah. Talked to him… y-yeah. I think we're good, now," you smiled lightly to yourself, before sighing, "but I still don't know what to do with myself… Text me when you're a few hours away, okay? Yes!... What? You don't want to see me – Okay. Good!... Ti amo di più. Bye," you smirked, pressing the end button to end the call, and you slumped on your legs, thinking to yourself, before giving Nina a glance, and she gave you a curious one in response. You smirked, causing her to roll her eyes at you, but before you could look back at your phone the door opened, and you watched as Archer walked out, glaring at the two agents, only to look at you and stare at you slightly surprised. "Hey."

"Ms. Rocket. What are you still doing here? –"

"Working. Do you have a problem with me being here?" you asked, but by the smile suddenly on his face you couldn't help but feel instantly nervous.

"Not at all, ma'am. Excuse us, but we have a bit of… business to take care of –"

"Tell your boss I'm waiting. No big deal, and if you plan on silencing those two idiots then make it quick. I have information to give your boss and I don't want to be sitting around all day."

"Ah, yes. Of course," he responded, slightly confused, but then his eyes went from friendly to cold and he started talking to the scared agents, and all the while you stared at them, making them even more nervous and scared.

Honestly, you have no idea why they are there. But a little fear can go a long way, and you enjoy teasing others.

But, this is a crime syndicate. If they're walking to their deaths, then so be it, and if not, then fine. Whatever. They've seen and heard enough, and you're sure more rumors about you will continue to spread. At least no one is using your first name… just Rocket. That's fine, you guess.

Just… fine… still weird, but you'll just have to accept this, if you want to stay on this base for a little while longer.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"You could have told me you were waiting," your father spoke the moment you stepped into the office, the door closing as the two frightened agents left in a hurry, while Archer and Ariana, another executive, turned their attention to you.

"Ah! You've grown so big, Sylvia!" the large busty woman ran up to you, grabbing you into a tight hug, and you couldn't stop the annoyed groan that left your breath.

"Please… get off," you growled, trying to push yourself away from the hysterical woman, only for Archer to be the one to help you as he gently pried Ariana away from you, only for the woman to push him away and turn an accusing finger at your father.

"Why did you let her come here? She's supposed to be living a normal life, Gio! –"

"Excuse me –"

"What's wrong with you?! After your big lecture about not letting your little girl become like you, here she is even dressing like a Rocket –"

"Excuse me!" you shouted, to get her attention, and you huffed as you stepped around her, in front of your father's desk as you glared at the woman. "Get your facts straight. I came here. He didn't call me here. In fact, I know my father doesn't want me here in the slightest –"

"Sylvia I wouldn't say that –"

"But… but," you continued, putting out your hands to stop the wrathful woman, only to turn your attention to your father and give him a meek smile, "but, I want to stay. If only for a while longer. So… just accept that."

"Fine," your father responded, in a bit of a gruffy tone of voice, but you could tell he was also relieved by your words, only to blush just slightly at your gleeful grin, and you turned back to the other two executives, causing the woman to look at the two of you with a rather nasty, devious grin on her face, and Archer to also blush at the silent, but cute scene. "Child, is there a reason why you –"

"I finished," you told him, taking out papers after papers from your bag, creating such a tall stack you could hear your father outwardly groaning in irritation, but you quickly rearranged everything so there was an order to the madness, before continuing. "You asked for info, and I delivered. Luckily, Ghost got enough information that I hope you're satisfied. I think the most important info about Galactic you should deal with would be this piece," you told him, taking the top document, bound by a paperclip, off the top before handing it over to him, and his eyes turned from annoyed to critical as he gazed at the pages in front of him. "This has the list of every member hired by Team Galactic. From high authority figures to lowly grunts. The list is there.

"I see… and –"

"Yes. If you have any spies from Galactic you'll know exactly who they are. I figured this one was important to deliver to you," you told him, and you turned your attention to Archer and Ariana while your father glanced through the papers. "Are you two just going to stand here or –"

"I have a feeling the Boss will be putting us back to work," Ariana groaned, while Archer nudged her in the shoulder, causing you to give the two of them a curious glance, before turning your attention back to your father.

You could tell he was irritated, and you know why, but you continued, "but before you get into a fit and start offing people," you began, getting his attention as you reached into your bag, pulling out your floppy disc case, and you opened it to reveal a particular disc, "I have all the raw data for you, too. Except for the parts I deleted, of course."

"Thank you Sylvia –"

"Everything that I printed out is the information you told me you wanted. Names and research. I wasn't quite sure what you wanted, so I took the initiative and printed off everything that was complete and whole. There is some information that didn't get downloaded, so you can try to have someone recover the info. I just don't know if it'll happen," you told him, pausing for a moment before letting out a breath. "So? What do you think?"

"I'm more impressed then I am mad," he responded, sighing to himself as he turned his attention to his executives. "Archer, if you could look over all these names and arrest everyone who Team Rocket didn't send to Galactic, as spies, that would be appreciated."

"Yes sir –"

"And Ariana, go through this paperwork and tell me if anything is useful. Have a trusted programmer copy and look over the disc," your father ordered, and she nodded her head, while letting a sigh leave her breath.

"Yes Gio."

"And Sylvia."

"Y-yes? –"

"If you could sit down we can talk," he told you, not giving you a clue about what he wanted to talk about, but you blinked, staring at him, waiting for him to say more, but when you didn't hear anything else you sighed, sitting down in a chair fairly close to his desk. Probably one of the two chairs used by those agents that had walked out, just a few minutes ago.

"If you want," you responded, bluntly, only to groan when Ariana giggled and poked at your cheek.

"Don't be pouty. It'll cause you to wrinkle!"

"I'm not even twenty. I doubt I have to worry," you told her, only to give her a light smile as she winked at you, snatching the disc from the desk and carefully placing it into her suit coat pocket. You noticed Ariana had left the paperwork on the desk, causing your father to grumble in irritation, while Archer also began to leave with her.

"And Archer," your father spoke, getting the man's attention, "arrest Mrs. Kobayashi before she can disappear on us," he told the man, and you had your eyes also narrowed at the thought, and while Archer seemed a bit surprised, he nodded his head.

"Yes Mr. Giovanni," Archer responded, causing Ariana's eyes to roll as she stomped out of the room, not bothering to make sure Archer was behind her, and once the doors closed the man sighed to himself.

"… She left the papers," you couldn't help but comment, but he shook his head at your words.

"A runner will come up and get them… I just can't believe even my secretary…"

"… Sorry," you couldn't help but say, but he scoffed at your apology.

"This isn't your fault… I do have to say, you've impressed me," he decided to say with a smirk on his face. "The work you've done would take a normal agent days. Not a couple."

"I do have a porygon2," you told him, but he chuckled to himself.

"Still, you took the time to train your pokemon… I thought about your research proposal, and I think I'll accept it," he decided to say, before continuing, "but the most I can provide is a dozen porygons and some up grades. They are expensive, and I could try to get porygon2 as well, but that'll be harder."

"I'd rather have porygons. They haven't been trained yet and I can use them the way I wish, before evolving… but thanks. You aren't saying yes because I'm your daughter, are you?"

"That's a part of the reason, but no. I've sent money to research that can be seen as impossible or time consuming. If you can provide for your own materials, and I can give you a place to work, perhaps, if there's promise in this research of yours, and I'll give you more to help you along. Just don't expect it," he told you, but you smirked at his words.

"You just made this very easy. I would have been asking for funding to make this happen, but…"

"… Yes, perhaps I am a bit biased because you are my daughter, but if you're not making any progress in a month's time, we're going to have to talk about it," he explained, causing you to nod your head.

"Sounds great to me."

"Good… then you want to stay," he stated, causing you to smirk back in response.

"I wasn't planning on leaving if you said yes or no, babbo. I was going to stay for a while, regardless, so…" you paused, the two of you sitting there in silence, until you felt his persian suddenly beside you, leaping her upper body onto your lap, and you smirked as you began to scratch the familiar feline behind the ears and brush her along her soft, recently cut fur. "… Not forever, but for a while. At least. I explained the situation to the professor. That I'm visiting family. Saying hi to people I know. So, he isn't expecting me for a good month, at the most."

"I see," your father responded, your head looking up at him as you stared at him with an unsure gaze.

"The real question is, do you want me to stay? If I disrupted your life I'm sorry –"

"I want you to stay. For as long as you want. I won't be mad if you're here or not. Just… there will be a lot of days where we don't see each other because of work, and right now I'm still working on the Team Galactic situation –"

"I get it. Just… as long as we talk, every once in a while. If you don't mind me wandering the base and interrupting a few people I know. Then I won't be mad with you," you told him, causing the man to chuckle lightly in response.

"Sounds great, to me… I must know, my secretary, Mrs. Kobayashi –"

"I didn't change the list. I don't have some grudge against her. She was on that list because she is, or was, a member of Team Galactic. If that's a past or present tense… that's something you guys need to figure out. I provided the information. That's all," you explained, and he nodded his head.

"Fine… I was wondering if you could keep your schedule free tomorrow," he told you, but you cast him a skeptical look.

"Why? All day? Don't you have work –"

"Yes, but for lunch. I'd like to spend some time with my daughter. Is that too much to ask for?" he decided to say, but you shrugged your shoulders in response.

"Probably not, but are we eating here? Eating out? Getting takeout? You can't just say to leave lunch free, and then make me sit for hours on end while I wait for you –"

"Okay, okay," he huffed before you could go on a rant. "We'll be heading into Viridian. My treat. And we'll leave at about… noon. One, at the latest, but I'll tell you if we cannot go… I got some advice and I want to learn a bit more about you, child. I haven't seen you for years, and now you seem like such a young woman."

"Oh… o-okay. I guess that's fine," you agreed, pausing for a moment before continuing, "was it Ariana?"

"Yes," he chuckled at your conclusion. "Why do you remember her but not Archer?"

"She'd pinch my cheeks a lot. That's why," you huffed in irritation, "and her exasperated tales of grander made me curious about programming in the first place. She even gave me a lock picking book, once."

"Did she?" he huffed, his gaze coming cold, but you couldn't help but let out a giggle at your father's anger.

"It's fine! Besides, she's not the reason why I do the things I did. And, I liked talking to her. She has a very nice arbok," you told him, pausing for a moment before huffing, "and an excitable vileplume that has caused me to fall asleep or become paralyzed so many damn times. But I do remember that, and her. That's why," you explained, and you could tell your father was trying to hold back a smirk, or maybe a giggle, but you continued with a sigh. "Ah… so, are you going to make me sit here forever or can I go?"

"Wait for an hour. I don't want you to get caught up in… the cleanup we're doing around here," your father attempted to explain, cryptically, and all you could do is huff.

"Fine, but if that's the case, can I make phone calls?" you asked, causing the man to give you a curious look, but then nod his head.

"If you wish –"

"Great," you responded, standing up and forcing the persian to get off of you, while you picked up the chair and made your way to the far end of the room, off to the side, so you wouldn't be noticed right away. "… Do you have to have your office this dark?"

"Yes. And you don't have to sit in the corner like that –"

"I'd rather go unseen. Just tell me if I'm being too loud or something," you stated, letting his persian rub up against your leg while you reached into your bag, pulling out another phone. "… So, you don't care if I sell the Galactic information, right?"

"I got what I needed –"

"Great. Just so you know, I'm going to be calling the International Police at some point. So, if you're doing something at those Galactic bases, just be quick about it," you told him, your eyes looking at your phone at the new text messages and your voicemail. You sighed, irritably, but at least it's not as big as it was a couple of days ago.

This is just going to be another long, long day. That's for sure.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

_Ciao_ [Italian] – hello/goodbye


	12. Dining and Conversations 1

**A/N: HEY GUYS! Sorry that it's been a while. I've been trying to write some particular chapters… and I'm still not quite happy with them, but hey. Whatever. I tried. And this story is just a way to use my creative thinking.**

**I will say this, regions that have already been established in the pokemon world, like Kalos being France and Unova being the east coast of the USA, are going to be called as such, but other 'regions' that haven't been established will just be called their original country. Like, Italy for example or Canada, or China or whatever. Not that I'd be using those countries very often… except for Italy, but that's just so you guys know. **

**And after this the 'action' gets a bit slow. Sorry about that. A lot of characters talking to each other, and other stuff like that. Once again, I kind of write when I'm in the mood to. This story is kind of developing Silver as a character, if I'm going to be honest. Obviously, she's not the same as the 'Silver' she's based on, but I decided to go my own route with this. I mean, I could have done another 'granddaughter' story, but… meh. I wasn't in the mood for that. **

**Right now I'm kind of going through a lot. A bunch of things I have to do with my life… so in a way I'm stuck, like Silver. Well, I guess all I can do is keep trying, I guess. I hope you guys ENJOY the rest of your week, and I'm going to try a bunch more chapters after this one. You guys may end up with a flood of new chapters, but I've written so much and haven't posted it yet. So, yeah. There you go. ENJOY!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

You were thankful that you didn't get a rude awakening from a familiar persian, though you're sure said persian wanted to wake you up early. By the time you opened your eyes and looked at a nearby clock, it was about '9:25', and you sighed as you slowly slipped yourself out of your bed and began to get ready for your day.

Noon, your father told you. He wanted to have some sort of lunch… Should you eat before then? Maybe a quick bite to eat, and before you meet up with him you have to take a look at all of the new materials and research stuff for your porygon program… as he liked to call it. Whatever. He may not see the big, big deal about such an achievement, but you know how much money you can get out of people if you can accomplish this great fleet.

First, you needed to get a dubious disc and a porygon-z. Compare the corrupted files to porygon2. Then… see if anything is salvageable… and then begin from there. If you should start from scratch completely or use pieces of the files of the dubious disc to recreate what would become porygon-z. Second… are the test trials. Transforming porygon2 into your upgraded version. Of course, you don't want to use your precious Ghost. Until everything is over and done with, maybe you will. Have one stashed away in your pocket to use on your own 'mon. But… do you want to go the route of porygon-z in the first place or try something else out? Porygon2 is a great cyber hacker, but you could certainly improve on that design.

Maybe end up making a porygon3… or porygon-A or -B. Or just porygon-3. Whatever you'll decide to call it… that'll come later.

You're just not sure what you'll be doing, in the first place. You have a wide range of ideas, but something needs to stick and be useful for Team Rocket. Or else your funding for the project will be cut long before you start. If your experience with Professor Oak taught you anything, it would be writing up reports and being very detailed with your research. Even if you didn't go off on a pokemon journey and managed to get accepted as a lab assistant, you're super sure you'd never, ever think about being a researcher, before this point in time. But… field work is fun. It truly is. It gives you a reason to leave, well, any sort of building and head off into the woods, onto routes, to look for pokemon on your own.

To be by yourself.

To be in the wilderness…

Just as great as being a pokemon trainer, but you get the money to back yourself up. With one or two good, even decent discoveries, you could end up with a lot of cash and never have to worry, again. You could do whatever you desire, after that.

That's why the thoughts of pokemon research crossed your mind in the first place. In primary school, you never thought about it. Science was stuff 'nerds' did, and you're a computer geek. So, doing both would have killed your social reputation, completely. But, these days no one cares. You don't care about what society thinks of you, anymore. So, why not try the sciences? Especially research. That makes the most sense to you, and if you can squish both pokemon research and programming together… you're golden. Completely in the clear.

At least, that's what you thought… before you learned the hard truth that you're actually a Rosso, not a Sakaki, and there's so much more to uncover about your family's past…

But do you really want to?

You know enough, now. Where you can find your father, who he really is. Why he's been so busy, all these years. And, you understand why he kept all these secrets. After all, you have secrets of your own you want to keep to yourself, as well. Things that… would make your father very, very angry… or at least unhappy. Disappointed. Sad.

But, whatever! Right now, you have things to do, so you decided to quickly get ready and head out of the apartment.

Since you didn't want to come back to change, you weren't going to wear anything that would associate yourself as a Rocket. But, you needed to blend in enough that no one would be suspicious or curious around you. And considering you'd be out with your dad, of all people…

You decided to be simple, about this. You put on a pair of long dark navy blue jeans, a stylish violet top, and a black dress jacket that had long sleeves, light material, and easy to slip off. You put on your arrowhead necklace, like always, but you added some amethyst gemstone earrings on your ears, and some silver and gold bangles around your right wrist. You added your trainer belt, this time looping the belt through your pants so your pants wouldn't slip down, and after reclipping the pokeballs back into place, you knelt down and slipped on some stylish black heeled shoes. The height wasn't too tall. No less then an inch, but you liked the style of this particular shoe… if you had to walk around a building and go out with someone for lunch. This shoe will do the trick.

You combed your hair, this time braiding your hair into a thin crown upon your head, before using a hair tie with a black ribbon attached to the tie, and tying everything in place. It was simple, kept your hair out of your face, and cute enough that no one would think you're some forty year old short woman… or that you're some date of your father. Yes, that happened before. And eww, that was disgusting.

You took out a decently sized messenger bag from your belongings. Different from your traveling bag, and a bit more stylish for an office work space. You transferred the gear you'll need to get started on this task for the day, and if you need more you'll just get the rest, later. You also made sure you had a few specific phones, just in case someone important calls you, and once you glanced at yourself in the mirror, and smirked at your attire, you calmly made your way out of the apartment, checking to make sure the ID card is on your person before you made sure the doors were closed and locked into place.

You could tell you had eyes leering at you as you walked down the hallway. Hungry eyes… for the most part. Which, normally you'd hate with a fiery passion, but the stress of getting everything you want done today was enough for you to ignore everyone around you. Even if someone called out for 'that cute girl', you ignored them, and once you reached the cafeteria you let out a tired sigh, pouring yourself a cup of black coffee, before gulping down at least a third without too much thought before adding some more, with a bit of cream and sugar for good measure, before walking over to the food and picking out what you wanted for your breakfast.

Something light. Just in case you feel sick to your stomach. Your father can be very unpredictable when it comes to eating, so… some toast… and cereal with milk. You barely gave the hot, delicious breakfast food a second glance as you put everything you wanted on a tray, 'paid' for the food with this card of yours, before you made your way into a lone seat in a far off corner. Sadly, your thoughts on anything but eating, even though you were chewing rather calmly and deliberately.

Where, you wonder. In Viridian? That would be the best guess… Was there a restaurant you didn't know about? A new one? Did he just want to eat at a particular spot to intimidate someone? That's happened before. Hmm… or maybe you're just eating here, which would be disappointing.

And, what will you talk about?

The possibilities are endless… and you're glad you didn't get too much food, or else you'd start to feel sick over the worry and stress you're putting yourself through, even if this is just a lunch. With your dad. A father you haven't talked to in ages… Yeah, no big deal.

No big deal at all! –

"Hey! Twerp," you heard Meowth speak, which caused a held in breath to leave your lips while you gave him and his human companion a light smile.

"Meowth. James. Where's Jessie?"

"Arguing with Cassidy, I'm assuming," he sighed, but noticing your tray he couldn't help but give you a curious look. "You're not eating a lot today?"

"I'm probably going to have a large lunch. I don't want to overstuff myself," you explained, knowing that you'd have to get the entrée, at least. Maybe even end up with a salad, and your father loves dessert. If you don't get dessert then you're stuck sitting at the table, bored out of your skull while he eats, and that's pretty dull to do –

"Something on your mind, kid?" you heard Meowth ask, and you smirked, patting him slightly on the head, before returning your hand to your coffee cup as you sipped on the warming substance.

"You could say that," you answered, noticing the two of them didn't have a tray yet, and you continued, "but you can get your food. Don't worry about me so much –"

"Why not? You're the boss' –"

"No. Don't start Meowth," you huffed, pointing a finger at him to stop the feline from spilling the beans, but you continued with a tired sigh, "I am wondering, about yesterday… what happened?"

"A lot of people were dragged away. At least a fourth of the people at the base!" James exclaimed, and you nodded your head as you began to eat your cereal. "… But you already knew, don't you?"

"Potential Galactic spies. That's all I know," you told him, simply, until you felt a nudge on your shoulder and you let out a huff. "What Meowth?"

"Any big plans today?" he asked in a curious tone, causing you to smirk at his question.

"Yes, actually. I'm starting a new project that could take me some time to finish. I have a generous supporter," you told the meowth a smirk, before continuing with a sigh, "but my dad wants me to go out and have lunch with him. I don't know if I should be worried or not."

"Why should you be worried?" you heard James ask, but you sighed in response.

"He's very… cryptic about where we go. For all I know, we could end up eating in some cave in the middle of nowhere. I have no idea! I just don't know what to talk about, with him," you decided to say, and the man nodded while the feline let out a scoff at your words.

"You just… talk. Talking can be hard, but you do it to communicate!"

"Not like that, Meowth," James explained, though you just smirked at the feline in amusement as you continued to eat at your food. "What she means to say is that she wouldn't know what to say to her father about… ah…" he paused, unsure of what to say next, and you calmly set your spoon back into your bowl while you brought your attention back to your coffee. "… I mean, if you don't want to talk about it –"

"My dad and I have had a rocky relationship ever since he sent me away to a boarding school," you stated, rather bluntly, as you sipped at your drink and sighed contently at the warm liquid waking you up more and more. "While he was supportive, at times, he can also be a really strict hard ass too."

"Meaning?" James asked, but you shrugged your shoulders at his question.

"Simple. He like it when you work hard. And follow the rules. Ironic, I know, cause he's a crime boss and all… Though, I was a little shit. I'll admit that. I'd always use the 'my mom's dead' card on him to try to make him do what I wanted. After some time, I think he caught on so… but he's a secretive guy and it's hard for me to talk to him," you admitted with a tired sigh. "If I were to guess, he wants to ask me about my adventuring."

"Yes. Speaking of that, we stopped seeing you with the Ash twerp after the Indigo League," James stated, and you nodded your head in response.

"Yep. Professor Oak wanted someone to help Professor Rowan in the Sinnoh region, so I agreed to go. What I wasn't expecting was confronting the insane Team Galactic," you scoffed in disgust, "but then after that, I went to Kalos to look into this mega evolution business. Met Professor Sycamore, Rowan's old research assistant… apparently. But then I had to deal with Team Flare. I guess, when having to deal with you Rockets in Kanto too, it's been weird just how many times I have a run in with one team or another," you smirked thoughtfully to yourself as you sipped some more at your coffee, only to sigh to yourself. "After that though… I have no clue what to ask him.

"Should I ask him how he's doing? I wonder if he has a girlfriend or something," you mumbled to yourself, though the idea of a woman in his life did make you feel disgusted. He is your father, after all, and for you, no one could ever replace your mother. There was this one woman who tried to. Acted like she could order you around… but yeah. You got rid of that nuisance. Ariana was one of the only woman in your childhood life you let order you around, on most days… cause she wasn't your father's lover. But a friend.

Weirdly enough.

Now that you think about it, if you had connected the dots earlier, you would have figured out just what your father did… and where he worked. You were just too naïve and blind to see it… and you didn't want to see the truth about him…

Maybe you should ask how the business is going. Or maybe what he's up to, personally.

Hmm…

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

After meeting your father in his office, and now sporting a pair of blacked out sunglasses on your face, the two of you were on your way to Viridian, you noticed, with two lackies sitting in the back seat. One was a slightly older woman named Domino, and the other was Ariana… Why? You have no idea.

But instead of the two of you talking, like you hoped, Ariana and your father were chatting about this and that, while you had to suffer the car ride bored out of your skull. Eventually, you decided being 'polite and proper' wasn't worth this boredom, and your attention turned to one of your countless phones. Noticing a particular message, you began to text Alex back, telling him that you're spending some time with your dad and you'll text him back later. And then, you noticed a particular text message, causing you to raise an eyebrow.

Not bothering to say you were making a call, you called the person and waited, bringing the phone up to your ear, which caused your father to get quiet and rather suspicious of you. "Hello? Mrs. Ketchum you wanted to talk?" you asked in a soft tone of voice, noticing your father's surprised look while Ariana let out a huff as she drove the car.

"Are you seriously making a phone call right now Sylvia!? –"

"Really?... Pah. Yeah, I'm in the region. How long is Ash going to be there?... I'm actually a tad busy. What did he have in mind? – Oh… I guess I should see you guys too," you sighed in an irritable tone, flinching as you heard the woman's response on the other side of the line, and you barely cast your father a look before calmly crossing one leg on top of the other and leaning back into the seat. "A few days… yeah. I kind of got sick with something when I came back. Jetlag probably… ah uh… Tell him if he wants to battle a champion then stay put for more then two seconds… Okay! Ah, I do have to go. I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright –… Great. Thank you. See you later," you finished, ending the phone call and sighing to yourself as you pocketed your phone and closed your eyes, for a moment.

Only to notice the car was quiet, and you cast an irritable look at your father. "What? I can't make phone calls?"

"I'm surprised you know Delia," your father commented, and you stared at him with a perplexed look on your face, causing him to smirk. "I know about Professor Oak, but… you know her son, then?"

"Yes. Why do you ask?" you decided to counter, but he shrugged his shoulders.

"Let's just say the Ketchums are old friends of mine. I haven't associated myself with them in years, though," he explained, cryptically, causing you to pout.

But you let that response be enough, for now. "… I had a feeling Mrs. Ketchum knows about you," you decided to say, getting your father's attention before the conversation could move to something else. "When we first met and I told her that I'm Sylvia Sakaki, daughter of the Viridian gym leader, she started asking me all these questions about you. I mean, I get that some residents kind of like you, but she was very specific in her questions," you told him, causing him to narrow his eyes in suspicion.

"Like what, exactly?"

"_Should I say~? I don't know_," you responded, bluntly, and he huffed in response.

"Fine. It doesn't matter very much," he responded, but you decided to reply in a lighter tone of voice, your hand instinctively reaching for your arrowhead necklace and gripping at the pendent at the thought.

"She knew a lot about mum so… I play nice with her to get information," you stated, finishing your words as your gaze turned out the black out window. You noticed that the car was entering the outskirts of the city, causing you to let out a tired sigh. "Where are we going anyways?"

"It's a new place –"

"What? That club? What's it called?"

"Starmie Deluxe, or SD for short," you heard Domino state. Finally saying something after being silent this entire time, and you gave her a slight irritable look while your father smirked to himself.

"I hear they have some good food there –"

"Unless it's also a restaurant, I don't see why a club or a bar would have great food," you stated, suddenly poking your finger in your father's arm, and while Domino stared at you as if you had lost your mind, your father turned to give you a curious look in return. "You're there to intimidate the owners, again, aren't you?"

"_Maybe~_ –"

"_**Whhhy~?**_ Can't we just go somewhere nice? The owner of Piccola Italia is still nice! And his daughter makes the most delicious tiramisu," you told him, licking your lips at the thought, but your father simply sighed in response.

"Maybe next time, but –"

"I mean, if you have to use me to intimidate someone, why can't you bring someone else? I can go eat somewhere. There's a nice café that opened up two blocks from the gym," you told him, but when you noticed his eyes were closed and his arms were crossed, you huffed and slumped back into your seat. "You're mean."

"I appreciate the advice, but that particular… club, I suppose it's called, has some private seating," he told you, but all you could do is let out a huffy sigh. "Are you going to be a brat, Sylvia?"

"Maybe," you responded, in the same sort of tone as he, and the two of you grew quiet, the tension still hanging in the air, you could tell, but you didn't care. Like always, you have to let your father do what he wants… Ugh! Seriously, if they don't have something decent for lunch you're going to walk out and find a better place. You're not ten anymore. You can do as you please, when you want to.

And luckily for you, Ariana broke the tension by saying that they've arrived, and you silently followed your father and Ariana, Domino tailing the three of you with a suspicious look on her face, but it wasn't aimed towards you, now. So, at least that's the only good thing about this particular lunch.

Like you thought, your father was here to intimidate the owner… until you spotted a familiar face and slipped your glasses off of your face, putting them onto your head as you calmly walked away, noticing the alarm the man was making, while you walked over to his… partner? "Hello Mitch."

"Silver! Oh Arceus, it's been ages!" he laughed, suddenly hugging you, and you let a giggle leave your breath as you let the much older man hug you, though he wasn't older by much. "Why are you here in Viridian, of all places?"

"I live here," you told him, causing a gasp to leave his breath.

"Heavens! If I had known you'd be coming by I would have –"

"No. No, we don't need anything extravagant," you chuckled lightly at him, but then he grabbed your arm and whispered into your ear.

"Why are you with a terrible man like him? Paul told me to avoid making eye contact with him."

"Oh," you responded, your head turning to the group, who was now looking at the two of you. Your father looked a bit irked, while the owner, Paul you're guessing, was staring at the two of you with fear in his eyes. But instead of sharpening your tone, you turned back to Mitch and gave him a light smile. "Your lover is probably right," you stated, suddenly nudging the man in the shoulder and causing him to let out an annoyed scoff. "He's my father."

"Oh… O-oh!" Mitch exclaimed, a bright red blush on his tanned complexion, and you calmly waited for the man to compose himself as he nervously scratched the back of his neck. "I'm terribly sorry for assuming –"

"Don't get me wrong. If you don't do what you're supposed to I'm sure he's going to… get rid of you," you stated, a bit more bluntly then you should have considering the frightful look on Mitch's face, but then you sighed and continued, "but just pay your debts and don't cause any problems. Then, you won't have to worry about anything."

"Says a girl like you," Paul stated, only for Mitch to run at the man and cover his mouth, causing him to snarl in response.

"Be nice," Mitch told the man, whispering something into his ear before clapping his hands together and beaming from ear to ear. "W-we're just a little late on our payments. That's all."

"This club isn't very popular," Paul sighed to himself, but you quickly shook your head and held up a finger.

"Of course not. You tried to set up a place like this in a town like Viridian. The residence here doesn't care much for elaborate things. You're competing with a local bar that that people have been familiar with for years. You want my advice? Work on advertising your food. Considering it's Mitch who works here I'm sure the food is better then decent," you finished, eying the man while he gave you a slight blush in return.

"S-silver you're too kind."

"If you say so," you responded, simply, but as you noticed the look on your father's face you coughed into your hand, grabbing Mitch's arm and bringing him close so you could whisper into his ear. "I suggest you get on with whatever it was you two were planning for us. 'Kay?"

"Yes'um," he quickly spoke, giving you a nod while you let go of his arm, and you simply grinned, playing nice as you grew quiet and let the two men work.

Paul showed you to your tables, up the stairs, past rows of tables, both long and short. Mitch stayed behind to do… something, you're guessing work on something else, and you were surprised when Ariana and Domino were given a table right by a door, which your father and you walked through. "Your private room, sir," Paul stated, giving you an unsure look as if he needed a clarification from you, and you gave the man a slight nod as he let out a held in breath. "I apologize for the accommodations, but this is our best private room –"

"This is fine. I'm on a tight schedule so if you can make this quick," your father stated, causing you to roll your eyes, but you watched the man rush away, leaving menus on the table and utensils rolled up in cloth, and the two of you slowly took your seats across the table from one another.

You could tell this room was made to fit, at least, six people. Ten, by adding a smaller table from the outside tables, but overall the décor and the style was what you expected. Modern. A Saffron style of various colorful buildings and street art, and all sorts of things one wouldn't find in Viridian, at least easily. "… Sorry," you decided to say as you situated yourself into your seat, placing the napkin on your lap as you continued. "I shouldn't have interrupted you –"

"No," he responded before you could apologize. "I wasn't expecting you to know one of the owners. No need to apologize," he told you, but noticing your skeptical look he shook his head. "You're right. I was here to intimidate this new… establishment. They haven't been paying so…"

"… Not at all?" you asked in a curious tone, but he shook his head.

"In the past few months."

"I see," you responded with a nod, but he quickly spoke before you could truly eye the menu and see what the place had to offer.

"This is just intimidation. I won't be hurting them… right now."

"I'd hope so," you stated, though you paused for a moment before you held up the menu, blocking your face as you began to stare at the delicious looking food on the menu, but you wanted something… light. At least something perfect for a lunch. "… By the way, I don't know who that Paul guy is, but Mitch is very good to people he knows. He's too nice for his own good. And, I bet you it's Mitch's dream to own the restaurant portion. Not Paul's..."

"… How do you know this Mitch?" your father asked as he also looked at the menu, but all you could do is let out a tired sigh in response.

"Sinnoh. Actually. He grew up in Sunnyshore City, and he helped me process a few things I was dealing with, at the time. He fed my friends and I, and he told us how he wanted to open up a restaurant, someday… but not this type of modern style. Something more… Kalosh. Though, the menu kind of reflects that style of food," you decided to say, causing your father to nod in response.

"I see," he stated, the two of you growing silent, as you both waited for someone to show up.

You closed your eyes and let out a tired breath. Geeze… Mitch is here… you never thought you'd see a guy like him, again. At least not here. In Kanto, of all places. If anything you'd think he'd still be in Sinnoh. He had dreams, there…

You wonder what happened?

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

_Piccola Italia_ [Italian] – Little Italy


	13. Dining and Conversations 2

**A/N: HEY GUYS! Next chapter, posted! Whoop!**

**I will be honest with you guys, I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to keep this particular arc. With Mitch and Paul, I mean. I didn't exactly write those two very well… but here I am introducing Domino. So that's good! I'm not quite sure what to make of her, honestly. I've been reading other people's perceptions of the Team Rocket members, recently, and I like the category of grunt, to agent, to admin, executive, then boss. But for me, there are different categories and divisions between those particular rankings. Obviously, there's only four executives. But then what? **

**So wasn't sure what to do with Domino. I kind of made her a 'special agent', part of a special division/unit that I haven't entirely come up with, yet. After all, she calls herself Agent 009. So she's at least agent status, but she interacts with Giovanni in such a casual/formal way in the movies. But hey, I like her character. So I'm trying to introduce her so I can use her some more in the story. **

**Once again, if there's any other Rocket members you'd like me to write more of, just ask! I haven't put Cassidy and Butch back into the story… honestly, and I do write about Jessie, James, and Meowth. Then, of course, there's Domino. And I've had interactions with Archer, Ariana, and Petrel. I'm still not sure how I'd want to write Proton… so I haven't really included him. So yeah. Everyone else is OCs. Okay! So I'll let you guys go. ENJOY!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"No way! That couldn't have really happened."

"It did," your father sighed, though he had a smirk on his face as the two of you ate at your plates of food. You weren't exactly thrilled when Ariana came in, picking at both of your plates and 'testing' the food 'just in case'. It was kind of weird, having two people talking right outside the doors, while the two of you ate inside this room, mainly ignoring them for the most part. This is a new level of 'security' that you never thought you'd have to experience, but apparently it's needed… and now, you kind of understand why. "Sometimes it's just easier to do the job yourself."

"Sometimes," you agreed, though honestly you couldn't help but think it's usually just simpler to do everything on your own. That way, if there's an error, it's your responsibility and no one else's. "So… ah…"

"Sylvia, how have you been? You haven't talked about any of your adventures in the slightest," you heard your father ask, knowing that he'd eventually ask, but all you could do is sigh in response. You honestly didn't want to talk about your journeying… but you suppose you have no choice, do you? "Unless you don't want to –"

"I will. I guess. It's just a lot to talk about. It's been, what? Almost five years, now? That's a lot of time," you responded, your head turning away for a moment as you thought about where to start. From the beginning? At a different region? Maybe just parts of your journey, so you don't have to go into the gruesome details. Hmm… "… Well, my adventure in Kalos was an interesting one," you began as you leaned your head onto your hand, and you propped your elbow on the table while your other hand stabbed at your food as you calmly ate. "The professor asked his grandson –"

"Gray, right?"

"Gary," you corrected with a slight smirk, before calmly continuing. "He told Gary and I to head over to Kalos, almost immediately after Sinnoh. So quickly that we had just reached Goldenrod's airport before we were forced to leave again. Anyways, we met with the regional professor there, Professor Sycamore, a former student and lab assistant of the Sinnoh regional professor, Professor Rowan. Rowan was studying pokemon evolution, while Sycamore was studying mega evolution. I know mega evolution has become a big deal, but in Kalos and the surrounding regions, it's not," you told him, plopping a piece of food into your mouth and you chewed, and once you swallowed you continued with a tired sigh.

"Apparently, there, large wars have taken place with mega evolution at its helm. The regional governments, after the world wars, put a ban on using mega evolution. Only a select few could use them, but they had their reasons. For example, I met a man and his young granddaughter and she was being trained to use mega evolution –"

"So, you have to put in effort to master the craft?" your father asked in a curious tone, and you nodded your head in response. Glad that his questions about Sinnoh were being overpowered by the idea of learning about this 'new evolution'.

"Yes. I normally don't tell anyone this because you should just read the research materials," you began, and you paused for a moment before continuing, "but in order to use mega evolution you need two things, a key stone and a mega stone. The key stone is the stone a human trainer must use, and the mega stone responds to the pokemon you're using the mega evolution with. Not all pokemon can mega evolve. And the weaker your bond is with that pokemon, the more painful it is, for both you and the pokemon. Maintaining the mega evolution for long periods of time becomes harder if you don't have a strong bond. In other words, it depends on a strong friendship with your 'mons. Or else it can cause fainting, internal pain, and even death… Gary and I tested various types of mega evolution. In fact, I have a garchomp that can also mega evolve, but since I caught him as a gabite and he was strong already, our bond isn't as strong as the bond I have with my charizard. So mega evolving him is a painful experience and I cannot maintain that evolution for too long, but it can still happen. We've tried several different things. Including a recently caught, already evolved 'mon compared to a properly trained 'mon on our party, that can mega evolve. And transferred 'mons that were mine or his that can mega evolve, but we properly traded, and saw the results from that."

"And the results?" he asked in a curious tone, but you smirked simply and shook your head at the thought.

"Pain. A lot of pain… Mega evolution is achieved through a perfect relationship and bond between you and your pokemon. The whole promotion that you should be nice and kind to your 'mons and treat them like friends has some basis. Pokemon tend to evolve quicker if you befriend them, and you can both rely on each other if the bonds are strong. Plus, when it comes to mega evolution, it truly tests the bonds of your friendship. If the bond is weak then the evolution is weak. So weak, sometimes that one hit by another pokemon, mega evolved or otherwise, could not only damage your 'mon, but also you yourself. Through mega evolving you link your energy with that of your pokemon… I think it's aura, personally, but scientific minds would like to call it something else."

"Then… this mega evolution is very limited?" your father asked, and you nodded your head as you calmly continued to eat and pick at your food.

"Yep. First, you need a key stone, and they cannot be massively produced like a pokeball. Even a master ball. It's a rock naturally found in nature. Like… finding the perfect, fully formed moonstone or glass made naturally in the desert sands. It's going to be one in a million chance. I received mine by that guy I was talking about. Who was teaching his granddaughter mega evolution. I won a battle for it, and Gary… he didn't have one for a while, in fact. Some guy sold him one, it was fake, and when he used mega evolution on his blastoise the power of mega evolution almost killed Gary. He was hospitalized for a good solid week, but during that time I fond him a real key stone. He wasn't happy that it was I that handed him the real key stone," you smirked to yourself at the thought, before sighing tiredly at the thought. "The thing is, these various stones can only be found in nature. Made because of an event that happened more then a thousand years ago… Reproducing a key stone or any sort of stone has always resulted in terrible fakes. The one Gary had bought, for example. Team Flare was responsible for that recreation, aka, Lysandre Labs. Part of their particular research that I happened to help stop, but long story short, his key stone was one among many fake stones. You cannot recreate what happened to create the key stones initially… but finding mega stones can be just as difficult.

"That's why, in Kalos, owning a key stone is a big deal. They don't just hand them out like candy. Because of our connection with Professor Sycamore and his research, Gary and I were given the chance to own a key stone, but just one of us. And I found the other key stone while I was roaming around the region, a bit more. These noble families there pass down their key stones from generation to generation. For some, the one who holds the key stone is the head of the family, for example. And the stone itself has been placed into a specially made ring or necklace or whatever. In other words, their strongest warriors and soldiers own mega evolution… get it?"

"Yes. If war comes back to the region, the elitists can use mega evolution to drive back the enemy. It makes it easy on the governments," your father stated, causing you to nod in response.

"Exactly… but key stones and mega stones had been naturally made and scattered across the globe. The stones rarely break. It's had to shatter them, and if they do break it can cause an explosion, like a bomb. But, the stones are so precious no one would want to do that. While I wouldn't mind doing intensive research on these stones, attempting to make my own mega stone for every evolution, that simply isn't possible."

"And why is that? –"

"Because of the process in which they were made. **How** they were made. In order to recreate that particular event, you'd end up killing an entire population of people and pokemon alike. It's not something you can easily recreate in a lab… I'm sure some scientists that associated themselves with Lysandre Labs wanted to create such an event. But, that's what Gary and I had to end up stopping… of course I ended up in a damn battle with the team," you sighed tiredly to yourself, but as you noticed your father's curious look you gave him a meek smile in response. "Anyways, that's another long story."

"I can see you don't want to tell me," he responded, causing you to stare down at your plate and pick at the food, as a pouty frown continued to grow on your face, and all you could do is sigh tiredly.

"I'm not… ready to talk about everything… like what happened in Sinnoh with Team Galactic. It's just… a bit painful," you told him, simply, before stabbing your fork into your food and chewing on some more, pausing for a moment before giving your father a slight smirk. "I'm surprised though."

"What do you mean? –"

"You didn't ask me just how many mega stones I have," you stated, causing the man to raise a curious eyebrow at you.

"Why? Do you have a lot?"

"I have several," you smirked deviously at him, before sighing lightly to yourself. "People can be very stupid, at times. The people who we encountered on our adventures… and finding these stones, while it's like finding a needle in a hay stack, it's not impossible. Just difficult. Every few weeks, I'd come across a new one. The amount of stones I have… selling them on the black market for a hefty price has crossed my mind, many times."

"And you have a lot of stones why?" he asked, but you scoffed.

"Isn't it obvious? Research. Considering mega stones are hard to come by, and it all depends on your bond with your 'mon, why wouldn't I go out of my way to find and collect as many stones as I can? Kalos has the most… because they are the historical sight of the incident that caused mega stones to be created. That's not something even Professor Sycamore has written down, and you kind of have to hunt down that piece of research… but history is all part of the fun, for me. And the puzzle, while a bit complicated, wasn't too hard to decipher. I wrote it all down, in a journal. The same way I tried to piece together Team Galactic's plans before they made their moves. Like, why they wanted certain legendary pokemon and the lore behind their efforts. To attempt to be one step ahead of them, though that didn't really work… In regards to their plans, though, I'd have to think Team Galactic was more ambitious… and Cyrus smarter, compared to Lysandre.

"Anyways, according to Kalos experts on the matter, they say that there are 26 known mega evolutions, but there's actually a lot more. If you find a mega stone that can link with your 'mon, then that counts as a mega evolution. I've found a beedrillite, steelixite, galladite, audinite, and an altarianite. Mega evolutions that aren't officially registered, and stones I've found in the wild. If I were to make a hunch, these stones end up being created due to the environment it was created in. For example, I found the beedrillite in the middle of a forest, where kakuna and beedrill in large quantities live. Steelixite, in a cave where onix and steelix can be found. But I have more then that. And I have… two beedrillite stones. For example."

"So you have more?" he asked in a slightly excited tone of voice, but all you could do is sigh and shake your head, though you were smirking from ear to ear.

"Yes. Duh, but I'm only telling you in strict confidence," you stated, noticing the excited light in his eyes still sparkling, causing you to smile happily in response, while the rest of his face tried to become serious, and he nodded his head in a way to get you to keep talking. "… Gary owns, with his key stone of course, a blastoisinite to evolve his blastoise… and a lucarionite. He had decided to start training a riolu, but it was one he had caught while he was on a short vacation in Alola… So we both decided that it'd be best if he kept that stone. For training purposes. The rest of the stones Gary found, he gave to Professor Sycamore. Which, was about three more… I think?

"I, however, while I did give a few to the professor, I found a bunch more that I certainly wasn't going to give back… or sell away. It's not like the professor owed me any stones, but he did give Gary and I the opportunity to find these stones and use mega evolution, for his research purposes. He talked with Professor Oak, you see. And considering we had recently talked with his old professor, Sycamore was willing to let us help him out. He made a deal with Oak, I'm sure," you told your father, sighing to yourself as you calmly continued.

"Anyways… of course I have the charizardite y. The one I used with Blaze to win the Kalos Championships, the Lumiose Conference, but I also own a charizardite x. Why? Another part of the research, since there are two different types of charizard mega stones, was to see if switching between these stones contribute to any problems… It does. Blaze and I need at least a few hours before he can jump from one mega to another. Proper rest is key, so using mega evolution is like a last resort. Overexerting yourself could end up with your death, if you're not careful," you told him, pausing for a moment before continuing, "and I had found another charizardite y, but I gave that to the professor. And a venusaurite. For the next assistants he decides to take on for his research. I have a feeling charizardite x could be a stone created in a lab setting. Later from the initial creation of these stones… and charizardite y is the natural form of charizard's mega evolution, because it seems a lot stronger then the charizardite x. It's a hunch, but if that can be true, there could be a way to recreate mega stones.

"But that's not something I care about, right now," you told your father before he could think about you doing that sort of research, right now. Right now, you wanted to work on your hacking schemes. "… Anyways," you continued with a sight cough into your hand, "I have 2 gengarite, a kangeskhanite, 3 scizorite, an ampharosite, a kangaskhanite, 2 alakazite, an aerodactylite, a houndoominite, a tyranitarite, a gardevoirite, an aggronite, a medichamite, 2 manectite, an absolite, and lastly, of course, a garchompite, for my garchomp. That's… I have 27 mega stones, total," you smirked deviously at him, noticing his surprised look, as you calmly began to pick at your food, again, "and I actually had a few more, but I sold them or gave them away to potential trainers I felt would need one… but I will be honest. The duplicated mega stones I found were in the wild. At locations where I could find that evolved form of that pokemon, in Kalos. Now that the initial research is over… I'm not quite sure what I'll do with those stones. Maybe sell most of them. Give some to promising trainers I like. We'll see," you told your father, noticing the look on his face, and you simply gave him a smirk in return. "Anything you want to say?"

"If you have so many, perhaps –"

"Firstly, you're the boss of Team Rocket. If I hand over a stone willingly it's like I'm giving you a weapon to use to level all of Kanto and Johto. You may be my father, but I'm not that nice," you told him, but you continued solemnly, "but, if you have a particular 'mon that would be perfect for mega evolution, even without a key stone, I'll give you one. Just one."

"For free or –"

"As my father. Not because you're some big bad boss of a crime syndicate," you told him, pausing for a moment before you flashed him a light smile. "I'm not that heartless, babbo."

"Hmm… then maybe I shouldn't –"

"I think you have, what? A kangaskhan, at the very least? Or a beedrill you never use? Or maybe you have, at some point, raised an onix into a steelix. Or maybe even a scizor, for all I know. But, the 'mon has to be a pokemon you personally trained, dad. From the beginning, at its lowest levels, to becoming a true powerhouse on your team. Anyone else, I'd expect money, but you, I just want to make sure I'm not going to bring any harm to you or your pokemon… Oh!" you continued before your father could come up with something to say. "And, if I do give you a stone, and you happen to come across an actual key stone, I'm going to need you to help me with the research."

"Meaning?"

"Just record, in some way, what happened when you mega evolved. What happened to your pokemon? What happened to you? How strong is your bond with your pokemon? Weak? Strong? Did you injure yourself? How was it like, the first time? Answering tedious questions like that," you scoffed. "I won't even put you down as Giovanni. It'll be an alias name or just anonymous, and I'll be writing up the report. You just have to give me some results," you told him, but as you noticed him smirking you couldn't help but scoff in response. "W-what's with that look on your face?"

"Nothing… Well, you remind me of your mother," he decided to say, and you couldn't help but raise a confused eyebrow at him, as he continued with a sigh. "You're very critical about your research, child. I feel… ashamed for missing out on a good potion of your life."

"W-well… it's not like I was always this way… T-thanks for… comparing me to mum," you couldn't help but say, watching as your father nodded, and you smirked to yourself as you went back to eating your meal.

All the while, your father continued to ask you questions about mega evolution, and you answered as earnestly as you could. About how and why certain pokemon feel pain, regardless if the bond between the trainer and pokemon is strong or not. How it works. Why it works. If certain things have to happen for mega evolution to take place.

A lot of questions… questions you'd tell anyone else to just read the damn research about it.

But, this is your father. And he's interested in something you're doing. Plus, he's not stupid. He's read everything everyone else has about this mega research. You're sure. If he's this interested or curious about it. So, you added a few things that you know he wouldn't know about. That the general public certainly doesn't know about. That, while mega evolution is awesome and cool, it's still a lot of work to master… and certainly isn't easy. And it's hard to come by. Not every trainer will get mega evolution… and not even a champion of a region will end up with a mega.

And… you kept certain details to yourself, for now… Like about Team Flare, Lysandre… and your encounters with the strange AZ.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"Well, Mitch. If you need the help, here's my number," you spoke with a serious look on your face, slipping a personalized business card with that number you hand out to just about everyone, and you could tell your father was giving you an intrigued look while you continued, "and leave a voicemail, first. I've had too many telemarketers as of late."

"A-are you sure? –"

"I don't know the nature of your relationship with Paul, but if you're both just using each other that's not a relationship. No matter how cute he is," you smirked, giving the man a wink, before casting a curious look over at your father. "So… ah…"

"You're going to give your number out to a guy like him?" you asked your father, causing your eyes to narrow in suspicion.

"What? A gay?"

"No. A person who owes me money," your father stated bluntly, but you shook your head in response.

"Mitch helped me out, father. And this deal you made with them, I don't know the details. However, I know Mitch is a good person, at least he used to be," you continued, casting the man who's been your waiter this entire time a light smile, and you calmly spoke, "and I know if I happened to be in a jam like this, he'd try to help me out in the same way. Am I right or am I wrong? Mitch?"

"I… don't know if I should be worried or thank you –"

"Call me. We can work something out with the police or something. If it's money problems I'll help you find an interview. I'm not saying I can spot certain things, but… the bruise on the side of your cheek has swelled up," you told the man, watching as he quickly put a hand over his right cheek, but you calmly stood to your feet, grabbing his hands and causing the nervous man to look at you. "Don't disappoint me. If this is really a problem, I'm here for you. You're too good of a man to have to deal with an abuser."

"H-he… Paul, ah…"

"At least give me a call. It doesn't even have to be about your relationship problems. Besides," you smirked, letting go of his hands gently to put a hand on top of your chest and grin deviously, "if you're living in Viridian now, I want to get to know you. We're a tight nit city, Mitch. Everyone knows everyone, and if I don't spend the time to get to know the newcomers here then everyone will know."

"If you say so," he breathed, though he still looked unsure, but you watched, making sure he took your card, as he pocketed it into a side pocket, while you turned your attention to your father and he calmly stood to his own feet.

"So, is there more to this lunch or –"

"Nope. Let's head back. I have a lot of work to do," he told you, causing you to nod in response.

"Same here," you answered your father, your father giving you a smirk and you returned it in kind, and you could hear Mitch let out a shaky breath, and you gave him a curious glance. "Something the matter?"

"This is probably the most stupid thing I'm going to ask," he began, his scared eyes looking at your father's serious gaze, but he quickly turned back to you and continued, "but… i-if you're offering… could you help me now?"

"Yes. Of course –"

"We'll bring you back with us to the base," your father stated without even flinching, and you cast your father a confused look.

"Wait. What? Dad –"

"The police around here aren't the most useful. And we can play this off as the interest your boy owes me," your father stated, but he paused and continued, a serious look still on his face, "but, this isn't a favor from me, but my daughter. And you still owe me money," he told the boy, but he couldn't help but smile nervously back.

"T-thank you, sir –"

"You always make everything complicated Sylvia," he sighed, but you shook your head.

"You don't have to help, father –"

"No. I should. I won't get my money back if these two suddenly disappear without a trace," your father stated, but you couldn't stop yourself as you walked over to him and gave him a hug, the man glancing down at you for a good few seconds before sighing deeply, wrapping his arms around you and hugging you back, with a light smile adorning his face. "You crazy rascal."

"Ci dispiace per l'inconvenienza," you decided to say, but your father simply sighed in response.

"Just make sure you handle this problem by the end of the day. I'll explain everyone on the car ride back –"

"Hey. Is there a problem?" you heard Ariana scoff as she opened the door and her eyes honed in on Mitch, while Domino also peeked in, hand, probably, on a hidden gun, but her eyes were narrowed and calculating while glaring over at Mitch, too.

But your father let out a slight gruff in response. "'We're having a moment."

"Apparently so," Ariana continued with a smirk on her face, stepping into the room and expecting Domino to catch the door, which she did, as she calmly stepped into the room. "This is a side of you I wish we could see more often, Giovanni."

"Pah. You wouldn't want that," your father responded, but he gave you one last tight squeeze before letting you go, completely, while he continued, "but we're bringing this guy back with us."

"Why?" Ariana scoffed before Domino could ask, as well, but you decided to reply, putting an arm around Mitch's shoulder as you did.

"I'm helping out a friend. Though, you don't need to bring him with us –"

"The local police won't be able to help," your father stated bluntly, shaking his head and making his way to the door, but as you heard Mitch let out a shaky breath you couldn't help but turn back to him.

"Hey. It's going to be okay –"

"What if he finds me?" Mitch asked, but you gave him a light smile and continued.

"If he does, I'll get rid of him –"

"Y-you know, when you said that before, I thought you were joking," he stated, but you shook your head.

"Look. I've lost a lot of people to stupid things. You're a good guy. And I won't let someone hurt you like this anymore. But, I'm not forcing you to leave with us. Okay? You can still stay here and keep my number, and give me a call if you need me," you told him, but he smiled at you meekly in response.

"Paul will fight back."

"That's what I'm expecting," you responded, simply, shrugging as you continued, "but let's get going. Okay?"

"A-alright," he responded, letting you drag him out of the room, and you noticed Domino casting you an unapproving look, only to flinch when you suddenly pushed the man over to her.

"You're the agent, right? Take Mitch out of here and you can make a spectacle of it. I'm sure my father is going to make one anyways," you told her, giving her a light smirk and continuing. "Mitch. Just cooperate."

"Yes. I trust you Ms. Silver," he responded, the girl casting you an intrigued look, but that curious look disappeared in a moment's notice to be cold and calculating, tugging the man along while you calmly followed, quickening your pace to be next to your father.

This was going to be another long, long day, isn't it?

Great.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

_Ci dispiace per l'inconvenienza_ [Italian] – sorry for the inconvenience


	14. To be a Rocket 4

**A/N: HEY GUYS!**

**So… here's the thing… I kind of got stuck when I was writing this story, and I've decided to backtrack when it comes to writing. Which means a bunch of chapters, which I haven't posted yet, are going to be tossed out and replaced with something else. The reason why I'm doing this is because I hit a wall when I was writing this story. And I don't want this story to become dry and boring. So… yeah.**

**And I'm only saying this because I wasn't sure if I wanted to rewrite various chapters in the first place. I've been pushing myself, for the past few days, to keep writing through the narrative I've set up, but I don't like where the story is going. It's kind of a reason why I haven't uploaded a lot of chapters, as of late, cause I'm not sure how far I'm backtracking.**

**I did decide to keep the 'Mitch' plotline/arc in this story, and I maybe start rewriting from chapter 15… or after that… but I'm posting this chapter to give me a bit of a boost to get through reading my various chapters. At some point, I just hit a wall, and I didn't like where this story was going. It was getting rather dry and I'd rather add more Team Rocket canon members to this story. So that's why this is happening. It's just a warning, just in case I don't post again for a little while. **

**And btw, I wasn't even sure if I was going to have the second scene of this chapter end the way it does. I tweaked it a tad, but for the most part it plays out the way I want it to. Honestly, I had a hard time with Mitch and that particular arc when I was writing it. I wanted to make some interesting, action packed scenes, only to fall flat on my face. OH WELL! I am trying, and this is for fun. I do have troublesome trio in this chapter, so there's that! So… yeah. I'm going over my story and thinking about how I want to proceed with it, cause, as I said, I hit a wall and maybe I should thin out some of the extra stuff I added to this story. So, there's stuff I said I was putting in, but it could be thrown out. I think I'll keep Domino, though. I do like her character/character design… **

**But there we go! So ENJOY this chapter, and I apologize for not posting anything for a while. Have a good rest of your week, and SEE YOU LATER!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"Isn't this too much unnecessary work?" Jessie scoffed while they sat at a table, in a lounging area, and of course the trio happened to come across you while you were conducting some business. "Why help a total train wreck like this wimp?"

"Jess. Be nice. I'm sorry for her behavior," James chuckled nervously, but Mitch quickly shook his head.

"I-I understand. Don't worry –"

"Thanks for keeping an eye on things, Meowth," you spoke as you decided to make your presence known, particular copies of precious information on Mitch, Paul, and the Starmie Deluxe all in the small little folder in your arm, and you gave the feline an affectionate scratch behind the ears, which he happily took with a light purr, while you sat down at the table and sighed to yourself. "Well, this won't be easy, but I'll go over the situation with you."

"Go o-over? –"

"I could just make you do something Mitch, but that won't be very nice of me. I am trying to help you here. And we have several different ways we can go about this… Is Paul as persistent as you say?" you decided to ask, all the while your eyes were staring at the folder as you calmly opened it and sat down, across the table from the man, and he gave you a meek nod.

"Y-yes. I, ah… didn't exactly want to live in Kanto in the first place. He said he had some deal –"

"Yes. He did. He made a deal with one of our Rocket recruits, and was the one who owes the team money," you stated, but before you could continue Jessie let out a snort.

"This guy owes us money? Does the Boss know?"

"Yes. Anyways, we can go about this a few different ways," you continued, completely ignoring the fact that the trio was here and that you could have just found a more private place to talk. You had a feeling Mitch would be way too nervous if he was all alone. In a place like this. Which is why you agreed to talk and interact with the trio before leaving them with Mitch, knowing Jessie certainly wouldn't let an outsider out of her sights, while you got the necessary information from Ariana. Who happened to be the one your father told you would have the information. "I can give you money to relocate you to a different region. Your pick, but you'd still owe Team Rocket debt and Paul could easily find you."

"O-oh –"

"Or, as my dad wanted to warn in Paul's face, you are here to pay off the debt. Not the entire debt. Paul owes most of the amount, and how my father plans on getting it is up to him. But, you can stay here and work the debt off. You'll have the protection of Team Rocket if you do agree, and it'll only be a couple of years, at the least. And what my father told me, you'll also be given a light salary to live off of."

"That… sounds better, but Paul –"

"If he sets foot in here he's probably going to leave in a body bag," you responded without hesitation, but you continued, "He doesn't seem to be cooperating with us, and my father doesn't like him. If he suddenly storms in here, looking for you, he's going to be gunned down for being a trespasser. And, if he comes here by force he'll lost his chance to pay back the loan… Unless you don't want him to die," you decided to ask, casting Mitch a curious glance while he hesitantly shook his head.

"I-I don't want anyone to get hurt over me –"

"He'll get hurt if he's an idiot. Besides, I don't know how you two were planning on paying off the debt, or not, but Team Rocket has eyes everywhere. There's nowhere in this world you can go to hide. Sorry, Mitch. That's the reality," you told him, only to feel a nudge on your arm, and you gave Meowth a curious look.

"Reallies Silv? Its Team Rocket that awesome?" he asked, and you smirked, patting his head as you continued.

"I knew that before I came here," you responded in a calm tone of voice. "A reason why I thought about joining the team instead of doing something else. The network of connections Team Rocket has expands everywhere. I wouldn't have to worry about certain things, compared to other teams, who are located in one specific area. What's holding them back all of these regional teams is Team Rocket, in fact. That's why you," you continued, patting the top of the feline's head before you turned your attention back to the information in front of you, "need to be careful. Especially around anyone on the outside."

"_Yes'um~_" he purred happily at your affection, but you turned your gaze back to Mitch.

"There is another option."

"Y-yes?" he asked, in a hesitant tone, and you paused before sighing to yourself.

"I can make a few calls. There's an international government agency that kind of owes me, and we can do this the legal way. We'll get you connected to someone who can help you with your problems, get you some protection, but after that it'll be out of my hands. Once I hand you over to the agents, then it's up to you to make sure they follow through on everything. So… while that'll be better then option one, I'm not sure if it's any better," you explained, watching as the man's face fell, but you continued, "you have until tomorrow to decide what you want to do, Mitch."

"Tomorrow? –"

"Archer, or rather, Mr. Archer I guess, gave me permission to give you a room. You'll be watched by a guard, and have to be tailed by a security guard until my father, or I guess, the boss calls for you tomorrow to have a chat, but it won't be too hard," you continued, taking out a piece of paper in particular and handing it over to Mitch. "Usually, people like you who are forced here are roughhoused a bit, but you can call this our Rocket hospitality… or my Sakaki hospitality?... Hmm… Whatever," you huffed, making sure Mitch had the paper as you continued. "Talk to the guards if you need anything, and make your decision before you meet with the boss. I didn't expect him to be this nice, but he is. So don't waste this opportunity."

"Y-yes. I mean… This is too nice," Mitch spoke, but you quickly countered.

"Look, I've seen a lot of nice people get abused and hurt by terrible people. I don't know how my dad handles his business, but to me, if anything, I owe you for what you told me back in Sinnoh."

"N-no. Surely you don't –"

"You gave me the courage to confront Team Galactic head on. After losing my best friend," you stated, watching as his eyes went from scared to sad, and you gave him a meek smile in return. "I… was scared to get hurt, sure, but if I didn't do a damn thing then Galactic would have won. My friend's death would have been in vain. What would have been the point of her death if I didn't try? I know you didn't say those words exactly, but you showed me a way of fighting back that I wasn't sure would work… So, in a way, yes, I owe you. But more importantly, if our roles were reversed right now, you would help me in the same way. Am I right?"

"You're right," Mitch answered with a simple smile, only for his smile to fall as the five of you noticed a security guard walking into the empty lounge room, suddenly giving you a salute that made you frown, but you didn't complain.

"Ms. Rocket! I came at the request of Executive Archer."

"Okay. Thanks," you responded, before turning back to Mitch and giving the man a curious look. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Y-yes… I won't make a fuss –"

"If you really need the help, to get ahold of me for whatever reason, use the number on the card I gave you. I'll answer," you told him, and then you calmly stood to your feet and your eyes turned cold as you looked back at the guard. "Thank you for coming, sir. You need to keep an eye on this man here, Mitch, until the boss wants him tomorrow. Archer approved of a room and everything," you stated, and the man nodded in response.

"The executive filled me in… Let's get going," the guard told Mitch, who nodded and meekly stood to his feet, and he cast you one last worried glance before leaving with the guard. Once they were gone you sighed as you slumped back into the chair. Completely drained.

"Ms. Rocket?" you heard James ask, only for your shoulders to shrug.

"Sakaki was a made up last name. Since I'm here, I might as well use my father's name, right?" you told him, only to feel an arm on your shoulder. "What Jessie?"

"You surprise me kid," she spoke, but you simply gave her a confused look.

"In what way?"

"You're… too nice. One day that's going to bite you in the butt," she told you, but you smirked at her words.

"It probably will, but let's be honest here. The best way to earn loyalty is by kindness and mercy. Not by violence and fear. My dad taught me that," you explained, noticing the slightly confused look on her face, before her eyes softened.

"Very true –"

"But if that doesn't work, a little pain helps," you continued, before you cast James a curious look. "So, what? No plans yet?"

"Not yet –"

"I'm sure your higher ups are trying to figure out the Team Galactic situation," you decided to say, and Jessie nodded.

"Probably," she scoffed. "That's why the Boss hasn't sent us somewhere. He may need us for a mission back in Sinnoh."

"The Boss called most of the field agents back to the bases. It's probably for this Sinnoh business, which, do you know what's going on?" James asked, but you shrugged your shoulders in response.

"I'm as clueless as the rest of you. I just helped out. That's all. I'm guessing it consists of looting Galactic bases and destroying them, as well as dancing around the police that are there. I'm sure Interpol is on the scene, too. As well as other international agencies. A lot of chaos. That tends to happen when a large team falls like that," you decided to say, only to feel Jessie nudge you closer to her.

"And, how dedicated are you to Team Rocket, Silver?" she asked, only to be nudged away by your own elbow.

"I'm not dedicated to this team, Jessie. Let's get that straight. It's to my dad, if anything. And it's not dedication or loyalty. I'm his kid and he's my father. I love him, and that's enough. Now," you continued, standing to your feet and sighing to yourself, "I still have some work to do, and now more paperwork," you huffed as you waved the closed folder in your hand, before casting the group a light smile. "Ciao."

"See y'ah around!" Meowth shouted and waved at you, and while you could tell Jessie was angerly whispering about you to James, you let out a tired sigh and continued down the hallway.

At least that mess was taken care of, for the most part. Now, to put your mind to other problem solving. Like your new research you wanted to get started on, at least before you call it a day and head back to the apartment for a good cat nap.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

You sighed in slight frustration as you sat at the computer, your porygon2 diligently at work, while you tried to decide what to do from here. You were provided 23 porygons, and only 7 up grade discs. So, you're have Ghost preform several tasks for the porygons, various programs, and whichever ones succeed the tasks perfectly you'll evolve into porygon2. At least most of them didn't seemed trained. Recently created or bred porygon, but the ones that were obviously stubborn and hadn't dealt with someone like you before, you had to remove. Not quite release or discard, but they won't be evolving… yet. Maybe later.

And, your father was nice enough to provide you 2 dubious discs. That should be enough, for now… but for the moment, you needed to decide which porygons will evolve before you can move on to step two. You've been recording everything down in a journal, and while you could be typing this on the computer and make this easy for yourself, you didn't want your information being stolen… yet. Besides, it's easier for you to organize your thoughts if you write it down on paper.

This is just going to take some time… and it may be longer then the month you told your father about. At least to reach the point of seeing if the dubious disc's data can be salvageable or if you have to start over from scratch.

"Your coffee," you heard Mitch speak, causing you to glance behind your back to notice the man approaching, and you cast him a light smile.

"Thank you Mitch."

"O-of course," he responded, setting the coffee down on a safe place in the computer room. A stand that you were using just for your drinks and snacks, and you took the coffee cup in an instant, sipping the warming beverage that brought a nice warmth to your cold bones. "Is there anything else?"

"Not really… how have you been?" you asked, and he gave you a meek smile while you glanced over at him and gave him a curious look.

"Everyone is strangely nice to me. Most people. I-it's kind of weird cause…"

"You thought Team Rocket was nothing more then criminal scum buckets?" you responded, noticing his surprised and worried look, only for you to give him a playful smirk as you continued to sip at your drink. "I get it. But, you just can't read a book by its cover. Sometimes it takes some investigating work to see the truth."

"T-true –"

"Then what are the plans? With the boss, I should say?" you asked him, and he gave you an unsure look before giving you a meek smile in response.

"I'm scheduled to work here for about two years. If I do well, my debt may be shortened. But, the Boss made a deal that, if I do well for about two months, he'll let me start working in the kitchen."

"That'll be nice," you responded, and he quickly nodded his head at the thought.

"Yes. I've already talk to a few people in the kitchen staff, and they seem like nice people. Though, the head chefs can be rather rude."

"That's to be expected around here," you told him, reaching into your bag for a candy bar, and you happily began to eat the treat, with your coffee, as you continued. "What about your roommate? Is he a cute one?"

"W-well… I haven't seen him, apparently. He's in Sinnoh. The rumors go that something big is happening in Sinnoh, but anyone who isn't involved doesn't know about it. Something to do with the dispersed Team Galactic," he stated, and you nodded, turning your attention, briefly, to the computer screens to see what your porygon2 was up to, before turning your attention back to Mitch.

"Yep. Sounds about right. And Team Galactic wasn't fully dispersed. Now though… hopefully," you decided to say, before turning your attention back to your screen. "Now, I know you have work so I won't keep you from that."

"Yes ma'am –"

"Please. Don't you start too. Call me Silver," you told him, causing the man to smile and give you a nod, before giving you a salute, you assumed he was told to do for anyone above his ranking status, before he rushed away silently, leaving you in the decently sized, but dimmed and boring computer room.

You sighed to yourself. This was going to be a very boring set of days as you wait for Ghost to finish his selections. Meanwhile, all you get to do is stare at the boring screen for hours, and even while you do other work on the side, it's still very boring work… right now. The fun part isn't going to come till later, after all.

You've been looking into buying some more porygon, legally, but the cost for a porygon, even on the black market, is rather pricy. And the up grade is just as expensive. You're going to have to spend your time buying the up grade disc, maybe the dubious disc as well, and breeding the porygon. Hmmm… Ghost, while it's a great porygon2 and been with you since the beginning, isn't the best porygon model. You may need to hold off on evolving some of these porygon to select which ones you want to breed. Yes, breeding porygons is hard. They are genderless and making them can just be easier. But, you have a ditto just for this purpose.

You've encountered and caught a few ditto, but there's one in particular you use for breeding purposes. It perfectly copies everything from the parent 'mon, and all that may change is the gender and sometimes the characteristics. You've done your research on breeding, and especially breeding with a ditto, and there are certain items you can use to make sure certain traits carry on to the next generation. And, when it comes to breeding porygon, while it's impossible, if you program two porygon to specifically breed with one another, then they will do so. That's just all they will be doing, is breeding.

That will also take some time… but, it's possible. And it'll give you an excuse to move around. Hatching pokemon eggs, even porygon eggs, takes time. So, this is the perfect time to do some other business that requires you to… talk to people.

You truly hate mingling. You're honestly an introvert, acting like an extrovert, but you need time to be by yourself. And sometimes on your journey that didn't happen. You couldn't help but be thankful that most people left you alone, around here. Didn't bother you. Obviously, there's a large sign above you saying you're off limits, cause of the boss, but other then that… the few people you know here is enough to keep you satisfied, when it comes to social interactions.

Plus, you're here for your father. Not them…

You may have to tell him that you're going to have to do some visiting and traveling in a few more days. Two weeks, tops. You can't keep holding off on doing those sorts of visits, anymore. No matter how much you'd rather just stay here, held up at the base, with your father…

Well, hours passed by, and before you knew it, it was time for lunch. You made sure Ghost would be fine on its own, and the other little porygons weren't making a mess and were behaving themselves, before you stood up and released one of your many 'mons. You released your large magnezone. And while electric 'mons aren't a good idea to have next to electronic devises, your Magna has been trained not to cause problems. Plus, Magna and Ghost have a good working relationship. "Magna. Keep an eye on Ghost and the porygons for me. I'm going to have lunch. If anyone shows up, let them speak their case before you toss them out."

"Bizzzz izzzzz," your magnezone responded, and you gave it a smile and a nod before you made your way out of the room, locking the door behind you before making your way down the narrow hallways.

You doubt anyone has it as good as you. The fact that your father seemed to instantly agree to your plans and gave you a full room to use at your disposal. True, some of the systems are outdated, and your first two days have been spent updating the old systems for your use or discarding things that will not work anymore, you're sure there are other scientists and researchers here that have to work with someone else to get their work done. Two different types of research happening in the same room. You've noticed that as you've browsed around the place, talking to various people. Wearing red and black and gray to blend in. At least you haven't been completely ignored, now.

Now… the whispers are… just who are you? A distant relative? Some child of a lover that tracked down your father? Since Archer insists on using the last name Rocket, everyone else is calling you 'Rocket'. Obviously, you're a relative. That much is clear. It's just how close to the boss are you, really… and that's a question you want people to keep guessing.

For now, at least.

As you stepped out of the elevator, your hands in your pocket, you could hear some commotion coming from the far end of the hallway, in the direction of the cafeteria, so, reluctantly, you decided to follow it. You double checked you had your hidden knives in their proper places, and your hand gun in your jacket, for today, and as you finally came upon the scene, you couldn't help but narrow your eyes in irritable suspicion.

It was that Paul guy, yelling at two guards as they stopped him from moving any further. "Sir, if you do not settle down, we'll be throwing you in a cell –"

"Shut up! It's you guys who stole my – **You**!" he spoke in a hissing tone, managing to free a hand as he pointed a finger at you. "You stole Mitch away. I know you're responsible, you brat! Give him back to me, now –"

"You owe Team Rocket money. Why should I? –"

"You'll just taint him. Besides, if your boss wants his money I have it, but I want to see Mitch first –"

"_**And~?**_" you questioned him, suddenly revealing your gun and calmly pointing it straight at his face, and you noticed one of the guards almost letting go of their prisoner, while the other narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Your stupid little debt isn't the reason why I took Mitch away. And who are you, bringing no protection? Not a single 'mon or even a knife or a gun. You're pathetic."

"Says the bitch," he hissed back, only to flinch as he felt the cold barrel pressed into his temple, causing him to stop talking, for a moment. "… You don't have the guts."

"Try me," you responded, staring back at him with a rather emotionless, but pissed off face, and as he stared into your silver gaze, darkening as you wondered if, maybe, killing him now would just be easier, you could see the anger in his eyes dissipate into fear, and you let that fear sink into his gut before you continued. "… You say you have the money?"

"Y-yes –"

"Where? Your bank accounts are shot and, as far as anyone else has noticed, you haven't acquired money in the past few days. Miraculously. No solid cash. You lie," you continued, and he let a scoff leave his breath.

"Oh yeah? How do you know?"

"Simple. Team Rocket has eyes and ears everywhere, idiot," you told him, noticing his slightly smug grin disappearing completely, and you continued as you took a step back, leaning to your side to crack a strain in your shoulder before you sighed and you calmly put your finger on the trigger, but you didn't pull as you continued to aim the gun casually at the man's face. "I'll tell you this, though. Even if you managed to find enough money to pay most of your debt back and satisfy the boss, I wouldn't be giving your precious Mitch back."

"And why the hell not?! –"

"He's not your bitch to boss around, you piece of shit. He's a human being, and you've been using and abusing him the moment you two met. You've used his kind nature against him, and," you continued, a sneer leaving your breath as you narrowed your gaze at the man, "that sort of abuse I cannot accept."

"Says a criminal – AAIGGH!" he cried out as you suddenly pull the trigger, but instead of blowing his face off you had, last second, angled the barrel at his kneecap, the bullet shattering his knee and causing the man to stumble into the floor, while the guards stepped back out of shock and confusion. "YOU BITCH!"

"Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment," you responded, in an emotionless tone of voice, and his angry whimpering stopped as you pressed the barrel against his head, halting his movements while you glared down at him. "There's a lot I will tolerate, for the sake of my own sanity. But, abusing innocent people who don't deserve it isn't one of them."

"P-please. Please, I'll g-get the money –"

"I don't give a shit about money. I'll pay the debt off myself if it means I can get rid of a dirt bag like you," you bluntly spoke, the man whining out loud at your words, and you paused, as if you were contemplating if you were really going to kill this guy or not.

Should you?

_**Shouldn't you?**_

The thoughts crossed your mind… and you know some of your dark thoughts aren't your own, while others…

_**Wouldn't it just be better for everyone if this asshole is out of the picture?**_

But instead of shooting him, like you wanted, you slammed your foot into his damaged knee, blood splattering onto your shoes and lower pant legs as he let out a high pitched, pain filled cry.

The cry was enough to attract attention, but you didn't care who was watching as you let out a disappointed sigh. "Wow. A beggar and a crier. And, a coward. You know, I would have shown you mercy, but you want to know why I'll be killing you now?"

"W-what? –"

"You have a girl, named Rachel. And an old ex named Sasha. The only reason why you're in Kanto, in Viridian, is because you want to torment them further from afar."

"N-no! That's not! –"

"You used Mitch to get what you wanted out of him. His money and his dreams, in order to get closer to your family to hurt them. You want to know something, you scum? Rachel went to the same school I did," you continued, glaring your eyes at the man as you watched the utter shock appearing on his face, "and, I'd see her every single time parents were allowed on campus, beaten and bruised, hiding her wounds. So, the moment I figured that out," you huffed, using the end of your foot to shove the man's shoulder into the floor, which wasn't too difficult since he wasn't fighting back, even though he could be doing that right now, "I decided I was going to end you."

"L-let me explain –"

"Fine. Let's hear it," you spoke, your foot stepping off of him as you watched him breath heavily, and you calmly waited for a response. Whining. Maybe an apology. Something that you could use as a person who had a good nature.

But, instead, he jumped at you, the guards rushing him, but you calmly stared right into his eyes, noticing the anger turning into shock the moment he noticed the barrel of the gun right next to his eyes, and you narrowed your eyes as you pulled the trigger, using your foot to kick the man's body away from you.

You let out a deep breath through your nose, your eyes hot and in pain, glaring down at him as you watched the crimson blood pool around his head, dirtying the white and gray tiled floor. Once you noticed he wasn't twitching, you let out another held in breath, blowing on the barrel of your gun to get rid of the heat, and you flicked the switch back onto the safety before you pocketed your gun, back into place, before calmly making your way over to the limp body. "… T-that wasn't supposed to happen."

"Not in front of everyone like this," you heard the guards speaking, but you calmly rustled through his pockets, taking out a wallet and stealing the money and credit cards, and shoving the wallet back into place, but the moment you came across a set of keys, you glanced at them, noticing a starmie keychain, and with a sigh you pocketed the keys and stood to your feet. "… W-what did you do? –"

"This filth is dirtying the floor. Get this cleaned up. You can report this to your superior for all I care, but I'll explain myself later," you stated, slowly walking away, only to huff as you noticed your clothes were bloody. "Crap," you groaned to yourself, knowing that this was going to be more work. More of a pain. But…

That's just one less asshole on this earth.

Fine. You'll take it.

And this doesn't cause people to whisper about you… then you don't know what will. But you weren't going to let that man run amuck, anymore. Not now, and not ever. And you're done playing games.

_**Sometimes it's just easier to take matters into your own hands. **_


	15. To be a Rocket 5

**A/N: HEY GUYS! I bet you weren't expecting a new chapter so soon.**

**But, what I decided to do is review my chapters, up until the point where I feel a bit weary to continue down that particular plot path, and then stop from there and begin to write the next chapter from there. So, I'll be reviewing my chapters and then posting them as I look them over. Then, I'll probably stop and be inactive for a little bit so I can rewrite the next chapters and rearrange some things. There are certain scenes I want to play out sooner… or later… or to get cut altogether, so that's why I'm doing all of this. This'll help me figure out exactly where I want this story to go.**

**And hey. You guys will benefit cause I'll be posting more chapters!**

**Once again, this story is for fun. For my own enjoyment. I just hope you guys are enjoying the story, too. I only got two reviews/comments since I've started, and it's been almost a month already… so hopefully you guys like it? Or maybe it's boring. I don't know. ANYWAYS, that's the game plan! And I hope you guys ENJOY your weekend, and hopefully I can get back to the point where I want to be. At the very least, figure out where I want to go with this story. **

**And yeah, here comes the problems and concerns of Silver killing a guy. Honestly, after writing this next scene, I wasn't sure where I wanted to go with this story. That's why I've hit a road block. It's not that I've lost creative inspiration… it's just that I wasn't sure where I should go, from here. I think I'll keep the next few chapters, but I don't know. I may be tweaking these chapters, moving and deleting scenes, before I have to start fresh and new. So… yeah! If there's some dialogue that doesn't seem to flow properly, that's because I just posted that part of the story without looking it over. That's why I go back and look over my chapters before posting them, these days. I used to have a lot of spelling errors and grammar problems before I started to do that.**

**Okay! That's it! I won't keep you from the story any longer! ENJOY YOURSELVES!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"I-I can't believe you did that!" Mitch screamed in your face, and the anger in his eyes only turned darker at the emotionless look you gave him in return. "Silver! I thought you were better then this! –"

"He hurt you Mitch. And I told you, if he ever showed up here he was going to die. What are you so confused about? –"

"How can you be so… heartless!? I loved him! Silver! And you took him away from me! –"

"I don't see why you're so mad. Besides, he didn't care about you. He was using you from the beginning –"

"You don't know that. You don't! –"

"He did. I wasn't going to tell you why, but Paul was a double crosser from the beginning, and he decided to start abusing you too. He's had a habit of doing those sorts of things, and I wasn't going to let you spend years with such a guy. But fine. Be ungrateful. Make me out to be the bad guy," you told him, watching as he glared at you, hot tears streaming down his face, and while deep down in your gut you wanted to be sad and distort… you can't.

Because, after everything… maybe you are the bad guy, but at least Mitch won't be dead the next day. Or weeks after now. Or Rachel for that matter, and her mother.

_**You did what you needed to do, damn it.**_

Even if it… hurts.

_**At least it's done and over with.**_

"… Fine. Hate me. Blame me. I'd rather you do. But this doesn't change the fact that you owe Team Rocket money. Here," you finished, throwing him the keys you had taken off of the, now, dead man, and you turned away, not bothering to hear the curses he threw your way while you casually walked away.

But a dark aura hung over your head while you walked, and you couldn't help but glare menacingly at every person you passed. So what? What does that guy know?...

They were right. Everyone is right about you…

Cyrus was right.

You're nothing but a bad guy. A petty thief. A criminal. You're on the track to a terrible life, and… you're… accepting it. This road you walk down.

Your father, a criminal.

Your family, criminals.

And even your current lover, your boyfriend? A criminal too.

At first everything you did, you did out of pure anger. A way to rebel against authority. Your father. But over time, it became fun. To break into places, steal. Hack computer systems. Pickpocket. It just became so easy. And then…

You crossed a line… you never wanted to…

_**But you had to.**_

It was either you or them, and you weren't going to go down willingly without a fight.

You killed them… you killed them all… and… you don't regret it. Not anymore. Especially after everything you've had to deal with, up to this point. The kidnappings, even the attempted murders on your own life. If you hadn't been this cursed…

Your best friend… your first love would still be here.

She wouldn't be dead. She just… wouldn't…

You wouldn't have replaced her with anyone else. You could have lived happily, with just her, but… it's over, now. And you have to move on, because if you don't move on… it'll just be more painful.

You don't know when you found yourself in the women's bathroom, noticing it was empty, but with a distort look on your face you made your way towards a stall, only to knell down and start throwing up. The breakfast you had a few hours ago. The coffee you had consumed. Everything. Whatever you ate came hurling out of your gut, into the toilet, and you coughed and coughed… and let out shaky cries as you did so.

"Fucking… Crap," you coughed as you leaned against the toilet seat, but eventually you simply leaned, flushing the toilet once you felt your stomach was done heaving, and you just knelt there. Just… thinking. Waiting.

Why does life have to be so complicated, these days? Paul just had to piss you off, and Mitch just had to appear. If it was any other set of circumstances you wouldn't have bothered. But… that pain… that suffering…

_**You couldn't let that continue.**_

Fine. You'll be the bad guy. Fine… but that doesn't change the fact that you didn't want to see that.

You couldn't.

_**You wouldn't allow it. **_

You're going to have to skip lunch because of this… crap. Maybe you'll grab a little bite to eat before heading back to work… but right… You have to talk to your father, now. It may have been a couple of hours, and no one seemed to have tracked you down, but you should probably explain the situation.

Or whatever.

But… you didn't want to leave. To confront everyone. Heck, at this point, your father may even praise you instead of scold you for that you did. For killing someone in a cold, cruel manner. Just… you never used to be this way… You never **thought** you'd be this way… it just…

You have to blame Cyrus. Galactic for this. If you never confronted that team, got involved, ever gone to Sinnoh in the first place, you would have never ended up this way.

Where did that old Silver go? The one who enjoyed being with people? Making friends? Spending days out in the wilderness, alone, with only pokemon by her side.

That Silver died that moment… you… died…

Cyrus, Cynthia, and yourself…

You hate.

_**Hate him so much. **_

If only you could get rid of him for good. Why must that asshole continue to plague your thoughts?

But before the feeling of your bile began to build up, you were stopped as you felt a phone in your pocket vibrating against your knee, and you calmly looked at the number, only to let a deep, irritated, disgusted tone of voice. "Not now," you groaned, but you pressed the green button to answer the call, and you brought the phone up to your ear. "Hey… what's up?

"Something happened –… I'm sorry, alright? I got a bit angry and killed a guy. What do you want from me?... Look, I'm not feeling very good right now. I just threw up –… I hate Cyrus. I really do. If I could, I'd find every damn person that called themselves a Galactic grunt and murder them in cold blood…

"I'm not in a good mood! Obviously! Why is everyone accusing me of! –… It hurts, Cynthia. I'm sure the nightmares are going to plague me tonight," you groaned, sighing as you slowly began to shift to your feet, though your legs felt wobblily. You still managed to stand on your own two feet, stumbling your way out of the stall and towards the sink with the phone still pressed up against your ear. "I'm sorry for –… He deserved it… Well, to make it simple, he used a poor guy to get money out of him, opened up a failing club, used criminal money to do so, and couldn't pay up. He also relocated a man who never wanted to go to Kanto in the first place so he could be closer to his ex. And he's an abuser, or rather was," you explained, pausing for a moment before sighing to yourself. "I couldn't… I couldn't let someone like that walk around. Okay?

"… My aura feels so messed up right now," you stated bluntly, slumping your head against the mirror while you began to turn on the water, having to use one hand while you brought a bit of the water to your lips with your cuffed hand. You used the water to rinse the disgusting taste of throw up from your mouth, before spitting back into the sink and repeating the process over and over again. "But I'm not going to faint, damn it… Yeah. I wished I never met Cyrus either… or Galactic… or those pokegods… I'm sorry. I have no idea how we can fix this –… Y-yeah… I feel like that ass is up to something, but what is the question," you told her, and slowly you turned off the sink, straightening yourself as you looked at yourself in the mirror to notice just how disheveled you look, but you wiped at your face, putting your hand upon your strained eyes as you continued with a sigh. "Yeah… yeah…

"I'm actually doing some stuff right now. Working out a few problems. Some personal things… If you think it's necessary," you continued, your eyes peeking through your hand as you glanced to your side, towards your phone. "Do you honestly think the Sinjoh Ruins is really connected to the Ruins of Alph?" you asked in a curious tone, pausing for a moment before sighing to yourself. "Hmm… look, the Azure Flute probably doesn't exist anymore. According to the accounts –… Fine. I read that they destroyed the flute. Perhaps they didn't, but that's not what Galactic used to summon the pokegods –… Y-yeah… do you really want to do all that, though? If you do, then others could –… Hmm…

"No. I'm not going to bother with that. The next time I see an unown would be the worst day of my life – Yes! Yes, it would!... You know what? You're not helping Cynthia," you huffed, but then you couldn't stop from lightly smiling. "I can't make that promise… Hmm… Fine. I'll try not to kill anyone in cold blood again… Hey. It's not my fault we're pretty much cursed… Alright. Tell me how Johto is. We can talk later," you told her. "And sorry for messing with you – I am! Seriously! Next time, don't stab a pokemon in the face. I felt that, you idiot," you huffed. "What even was it? –… Still uncalled for. We're linked, you know. Be more mindful –… Okay. Anyways, I have some work I should get back to –… See you later," you smirked at the woman's snappy comeback, but you were too tired to care about responding to her words. Instead, you ended to call, before pocketing the phone as you leaned against the mirror, closing your eyelids tightly.

So… much pain. Rupturing through your body. As if your body just exploded from the inside out, and then re-pieced itself back together again, only to blow up over and over again. Aigh! Why you?! Out of any other person, why you!?...

You were just unlucky. That's all. It could have been anyone, honestly. Gary even. The professor. Some elite four member.

Cynthia and you just showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time… and didn't prevent the event in the first place. Now, you're suffering for it… but…

At least it's not all bad.

You're not dead and it'll take a lot of work for you to die in the first place. Now…

But curse Cyrus.

And Giratina.

Those pokegods for even existing… _**Damn them! **_

_**All of them! **_

Because if they really wanted to, they could have prevented this, but no. No, they didn't!...

Ugh…

You really need to calm down.

Your eyes opened weakly, and you let out a low grumble over noticing the state of your gaze. You still had a strange eerie bright red glow in your vision… and your bright silver eyes… were stained slightly red. Tints of red slowly invading your vision…

But no! No, you cannot let yourself be overpowered by these negative emotions. By this pain. This suffering. This anger. Geeze…

You just… killed a man. That's all.

_**A bad guy… that's all. **_

You just… need to calm down.

You cannot let this feeling of bloodlust overpower you. This desire to get rid of absolute everything in sight… Yeah… control…

Maintain… control… Damn it…

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"But sir! –"

"It's fine. Besides, this entire problem was because Sylvia decided to bring that man back with us," your father stated, but you let a scoff leave your breath.

"For the record, it was you who wanted to bring Mitch back with us. I didn't care –"

"Still. Since this happened, this is your mess to clean up –"

"You want me to throw the body in a ditch or something? Is that it?" you responded, but he sighed and put his fingers upon his nose to steady himself, only for you let out a shaky breath in response. "Look, I can apologize all day, but –"

"I'm not… angry," he told you, before turning his attention to the executive having to deal with this mess. "Proton. I want the two men that had to deal with this situation to come to my office, after their done getting rid of the evidence."

"Yes sir," he stated, giving you one last glare before calmly walked out of the room, and you stood there, waiting. Until you flinched as you felt his persian leaning up against you, trying to get your attention.

You simply closed your eyes and let out a shaky breath. "Sylvia, I'm not mad. In fact, I'm impressed, but there was a right way to deal with this situation and a wrong way –"

"I know! I know… but when I read the information Ariana gave me, I couldn't help but be a bit pissed towards that Paul asshole," you told him, letting your eyelids open while your grip on the chair in front of you tightened, but you continued with a dark look on your face as you glared at the floor. "Abuse and pain. I just… he was a terrible man. Not only did he use Mitch but his ex and his daughter as well… I wasn't going to let them suffer another moment, and he crossed the line the moment he stepped foot in this base. I know I could have handled this situation better, but I couldn't control myself. Not after… everything," you tried to explain, but you felt your body shaking a bit and you closed your eyelids tightly, again, and while you felt a worried whimper leaving the persian's breath, you didn't care. You didn't bother to try to comfort the worried pokemon.

Because the desire to punch something in the face was becoming overwhelming… and you weren't going to hurt another being. Especially a pokemon.

You automatically flinched as you felt arms wrapping around you, and the fist you almost used to collide into the perp's face was caught by your father's hand. He pinned you, to his chest, your body shaking as he held you close. "Breathe… respirare Sylvia, mia bambina. Respirare…"

"… I-I –"

"Enough. Just… calm yourself. You need to breathe and relax," he told you, keeping you close, and you don't know how you made your way onto a couch in his office, but he eventually sat you down, with him by your side, and he kept his arms around you until your tensed frame softened, and you leaned into him and let yourself calm down.

Breathe… right… that's an important thing to do, isn't it?

You flinched slightly as he leaned away, only to gently grasp the sides of your face and made you look up at him. You could feel tears starting to water in your eyes, knowing that your father could clearly see the strange red tints corrupting your normal bright silver gaze. You could even see the fear on your face, reflected off of his dark, but soft brown eyes…

And slowly, he let go of your face, only to sigh and run a finger over your cheek, before completely letting you go. "… I don't know what's going on with you, but this isn't normal, is it?"

"B-babbo –"

"Something messed up your aura, didn't it?... I want you to stay here and sit for a few hours. I'm keeping an eye on you," he told you, not exactly giving you a choice to argue.

And you were too tired to argue, anyways.

Instead, he watched as you slumped your head onto the armrest of the couch, the obvious worry on his face shining through as he looked at your distort and weary appearance. But hearing his new, but temporary, secretary trying to get into contact with him at the phone, he calmly made his way over to his desk, leaving you be. His persian jumped up onto the couch, which didn't exactly have enough room for her in the first place, and lied down practically on top of you. Slightly to the side, just barely having enough room not to topple to the floor.

But, you simply closed your eyes. Your hand reaching for your necklace as you tightly clutched your arrowhead pendent. You breathed, but didn't do much of anything else. No sobbing, no whimpering. No angry growls. Just… you laid there. Defeated and exhausted, feeling the familiar rumbling of Rob's purring stomach and throat, trying to comfort you in some sort of way. The occasional lick at your face, trying to make sure you were still alive.

You just breathed… cause…

This was… strangely comforting… and eventually you felt yourself passing out, not bothering to notice who or what walked in and out of that door.

You were just so, so, so… ugh. Tired.

Way too exhausted for this shit to be happening, right now.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

_Voices kept screaming in your head._

_Voices… whispering… trying to get your attention._

_Visions of ghastly purples… and eerie blues clouded your vision… until…_

_Until…_

_You felt a tap on your shoulder, causing you to turn your head violently, only to notice nothing was there. You suddenly felt hot… oh, so hot…_

_And then you threw a punch, your eyes widening in fright as you stared face to face with menacing bright flaming red eyes, causing you to stumble backward and hit the ground with a gasp. "Go away!" you shouted, letting out a yell as you felt a burning wisp hit you, but this is just a dream._

_Just a dream!_

_This isn't real! It can't be!_

_It's not real! _

"_You're not real! Get away from me!" you cried out_, only to feel a strange slap against your face, and your eyelids slowly began to open up. You flinched as you felt a paw pressed up against your face, only to outright groan as you noticed what the paw was attached to. "R-rob… Roberta I'm… I'm fine. Get off," you told the persian, only to feel her slump further on top of your chest, causing a gasp to leave your lips. "I-I can't… breathe!"

"_Perouuu~_" she purred, though her bright red eyes stared at you, leering at you, as if she was waiting for something to happen.

You just stared back. Unsure of what you should be doing right now, only to feel her tongue lick your face before she jumped off of you, only to curl up next to your body on the bed.

Bed… right…

At some point your father led you to your room and… hmm…

"I'm sorry for worrying you," you mumbled as you weakly scratched behind the persian's ears, causing her to let out a soft purr, but she continued to give you a stare. Making sure your words held any merit while you slumped back into your pillow, closing your eyes and sighing deeply to yourself.

You're not going to be able to go back to sleep… and you wonder just how long you've been sleeping. A few hours? Days? You'd hate it if this has been days and not hours. Either way, you'd still feel like crap. So it wouldn't really matter.

But…

You let the soothing breathing of the feline beside you, and the fact that you still felt drained lull you back into a calm state. Your eyes, remaining closed. Your breath, steady. You wonder if you worried the poor 'mon or if she just wanted to wake you up, for a reason…

But your eyes snapped open as you heard your phone starting to ring, and with a tired sigh your reached for the devise, hearing the feline whining in protest at the noise while you pressed the green button and brought the phone to your ear. "Hello?

"… Wait. When?... Now?!" you almost shouted, your head jolting up from the pillow, only for you to let out an irritable groan while you put a hand on your sore forehead, letting out a slight whimper at the internal pain. "N-no. I'm okay – Yes really!... Damn. You came too early. I'm not ready for this.

"N-nah. I didn't mean it like that – Oh, you better be teasing!... Let me just… I'll come see you – Yes. Yes, I can," you chuckled at the man's unsure tone of voice on the other side of the line, and already you were slipping out of bed, the persian letting out a confused 'meow' while you continued to talk on the phone, stumbling in your delirious state as you reached for clothes that would be comfortable, more than cute or formal to wear, and you slipped off the pajamas you happen to be in, replacing them with the comfortable baggy hiking pants and casual shirt as you went. "How are you coming in and what time exactly?... Okay. I'll be right there to greet you –… Yeah. I kind of did some stupid stuff and I'm not feeling well –… Yeah. I did. And Cynthia was mad with me.

"I did talk to my father and we're cool now, but I want to talk to you! Say, what time is it?... Okay. Interesting… the date?... Oh. Good. Why are you guys showing up so late at night?... I suppose that's a good enough reason. A whole group, huh? I have to get quiet now. I bet my father's sleeping –… Okay. Grazie. Ten minutes. See you in ten," you told him, hanging up the phone while the persian continued to 'mew' at you in a confused tone, but the worry that was in her voice disappeared when she noticed the excited smile on your face. She curiously followed you out of your bedroom as you went into the bathroom, where you quickly used the facilities, brushed your teeth, hoping to get that disgusting taste of stale breath and throw up out of your mouth, before you brushed again, gulped down some water, and wandered back into your room.

You grabbed your Kalos trainer jacket, quickly finding the precious necklace your father gave, or made you think, for you, and you made sure the arrowhead was sitting on your chest, in front of your shirt, as you kept your collar popped up, hiding most of your neck, and your zipper zipped down to just above your chest. As you slipped on your shoes, which were easy enough to put on and off without too many laces, you couldn't help but stare in the mirror, blushing at how terrible you look, and you grabbed a brush, brushing through your hair quickly, and tying your hair back in a ponytail so you didn't look like a total slob.

You glanced at your phone. It was '12:07' and you still had five more minutes… Great. Just about enough time to reach the garage where the vehicles for the building would be.

"Settle down. I'm not going crazy. I'm just excited to see someone," you told the persian, knowing she wasn't too happy about being rudely woken up, and you sighed, knelt down, and affectionately scratched her against the side of her neck while looking intently into her sharp red feline eyes. "I'm going to be right back, 'kay? Someone who's very important to me is showing up to the base and I want to greet him. Just, watch dad," you sighed, noticing the feline was still following you and you rolled your eyes, but you made your way out of your bedroom, pausing to turn to your father's bedroom door.

You noticed it was closed, so you hesitated. Should you tell him that you're going to be back in a moment? Probably in an hour, at most?

You bet he'd be pissed to be woken up so late at night, so instead you tiptoed into the kitchen, wrote him a quick note, and placed it on the kitchen counter, grabbing the empty coffee cup he usually uses for coffee, and used it to pin the note down so it wouldn't fly off of the counter. "Stay," you told the persian, noticing she was just about to leave with you, and she let out a huffy 'meow' in response, glaring at you as she was forced to sit right in front of the door, and you gave her a meek smile before letting the door close behind you, making sure it 'clicked' and was properly locked, before hastily, as quietly as possible, made your way towards the stairs.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$#

_Respirare_ [Italian] – breathe


	16. Telling the Truth 1

**A/N: HEY GUYS! Here's the next chapter!**

**I decided to keep these OCs cause I like how I wrote this chapter… and they should play pinnacle roles for Silver. It's just, as I continued writing, I didn't tie them into my story too much, but I will now! So, yeah! Though, I did have to tweak this chapter a bit… and I think after this chapter I'm going to be moving some scenes around, and after that I may start writing more chapters from scratch. I might as well salvage what I got, right?**

**Anyways, I hope you guys ENJOY this next chapter. It's a bit sappy, but I think I make it work. So… yeah! ENJOY!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

You almost tripped over your own two feet a few times as you stumbled your way down the stairs, but luckily for you no one was around to notice you tripping over your feet like an idiot. How you reached the floor you were looking for without face planting into the floor, you have no idea, but you let out a shaky breath, steadying yourself, before you breathed slowly and calmly, making sure you weren't too jittery and close to falling over, before you let go of the railing, making your way to the door, and carefully opening it.

Apparently this must be the right parking level because you noticed a group of Rockets waiting by the curb, by the elevators, and so you slowly closed the door behind you, making sure it didn't make a noise, before you hid behind a rather tall and large black out van, with the large crimson 'R' logo on both sides of the door. This car obviously wasn't used for stealth missions, but you looked at your phone, looking to see if you got a call.

Nothing.

But before you wondered if maybe you stumbled onto something other than who you were looking for, two black out large vans, and a decently sized small black stylish car with slightly tinted windows, turned the corner, arriving into the parking lot. You watched as the vans parked back end towards the elevators, and the doors popped open, revealing Rocket grunts, agents, and equipment. In an instant you noticed the grunts were bringing in the boxes and unloading them, while the agents slowly piled out of the vans, though that car seemed to have parked somewhere else, but there was a group of about four people making their way towards the elevators, from the parked black car.

You waited… making sure your presence wasn't known, yet… until you noticed a particular person stepping out of the vehicle. The driver.

He was wearing a large, black, bellowing trench coat. The front was buttoned up, hiding his obvious Rocket uniform from view. He had a dark look on his olive tanned face, giving some of the Rocket members nasty looks while he threw the keys to someone, calmly making his way to a spot where the other Rockets, who weren't exactly helping, were standing and waiting.

That's when you decided to step out of the shadows and calmly make your way towards them, and you watched as his head instantly snapped around and his eyes connected with your own. The dark irritation in his eyes quickly turned to a soft olive green hue, and before you knew it, you were running, jumping into his arms as he happily accepted you into his chest. "Alex!" you couldn't help but say, unable to control your excitement before he easily tilted your head upward, planting a desperate kiss upon your lips, causing you to moan lowly.

"Get a room you two," you heard a familiar feminine voice scoffing at the two of you, and you didn't acknowledge her until you pulled away from the man's face, only to let out a slight giggle.

"Shut up Liz."

"Silver. Are you okay? Over the phone –"

"I'm just a bit… exhausted," you told him, noticing the woman, who was just about Alex's age, rolling her bright blue eyes at the two of you, before turning around and casually talking to someone else, while you felt his tight arms around you loosen as you took a step back. "And you? Did you manage to finish your assignments?"

"The last guy was tricky, but I managed to off him before the cops could show up," he explained with a sigh leaving his breath, but then he cast you a content smile. "I… I'm glad to see that you're okay. When I heard that you were here at a base I could only think something terrible happened."

"Yeah, well… a lot happened," you told him, but the two of you glanced over to notice someone trying to get the group of agents and grunts that had just arrived to follow them, and you sighed deeply to yourself, "but it's a long explanation."

"I have all night," he smirked, lacing his fingers with your own as you smiled contently at his words, letting the slightly older man tug you along as the two of you followed the group, while most were giving you unsure, confused glances.

Until the one named Liz snickered and jabbed you in the arm with her elbow. "You two are seriously going to keep this up, eh?"

"Shut up Liz," you scoffed and Alex let out a tired sigh.

"Hey. _If I can't tease~ you_, then what's the point of me putting my seal of approval on this?" she smirked, pointing to her chest. You watched as the elevator doors slowly began to open, and the three of you managed to cram yourselves into the elevator with a third of the group before the doors could close.

"Seal of approval? You act as if I care," you heard Alex retort, only for the woman to huff in response.

"Of course! You, dating a cute gal like her? By the way Silver, you have a great –"

"Nope! Don't you start," you huffed, putting a hand over her mouth while you continued with a playful snarl leaving your breath. "Besides, you. If you're _**so jealous~**_ about _our love~~_ you had every opportunity to show me any sort of affection. But, you didn't. So you lucked out," you stated, causing a scoff to leave her breath.

"I-I don't like you that way! –"

"Sounds like to me, you do," Alex responded, but Liz simply snarled.

"That's wrong! And I'm not gay –"

"Are you? I mean I don't give a shit, but it doesn't matter to me if you are or not… You have a nice butt too," you responded, smirking as you felt Alex squeeze you hand a bit tighter as he held back his snickering, and you couldn't help the chuckle that left your breathe as she hit you in the arm, again.

"S-shut up!"

"Guys. While I can take this type of name calling usually, it's late. I'm tired, and I'm sure our banter is unappreciated," you heard Alex say. Liz and your gazes glanced to the other people in the elevator with the three of you, noticing some of them were glaring daggers while others were confused and blushing over the casual conversation the three of you were having, but Liz only huffed in response.

"Maybe you need to talk more, Lex. Speaking of talking, Silver, you didn't exactly say why you're here," she asked you, causing a tired sigh to leave your breath, "and Lex wasn't going to spill the beans."

"It's not my beans to spill. Besides, for all I know, she could have left by the time I got back," he told her, only to sigh slightly as he felt you leaning into his arm, grasping his hand and his arm while you slumped your head into his shoulder. "… I'm used to your disappearances."

"I only decided to stick around this long because I wanted to make sure you got back in one piece," you responded, and then you heard an 'awww' coming from Liz, and you huffed and glanced at her with a glare in your eyes. "Something you want to say, Elizabeth?"

"Firstly, don't call me that. Secondly, yes. You're so adorable!" she suddenly cooed, snatching you away from Alex as she pulled you into her chest, pinching your cheeks while you let out an annoyed whine, glaring, but not quite pulling away. "Hah! We need to go clubbing!"

"I'm not looking for a date," you responded, quickly catching her hands before she could pinch you again, and you eyed her with a raised eyebrow while she grinned from ear to ear. "Besides, this is Viridian we're talking about. And Pewter doesn't have too many fun things, either."

"But there's that new club that opened up! About a few months ago. You can get away with doing almost anything there," she exclaimed, only for you to close your eyes and let out a tired sigh, and she turned from happy to disappointed. "Uh oh. What did you do?"

"W-well…"

"You actually did something. I shouldn't be surprised, but what happened?" Alex responded, but noticing your pout he quickly continued, "I-I mean… I'm sure the guy got what came to him… or she?"

"He. And yes. You're exactly right," you responded, and, surprising almost everyone in the elevator, but not exactly Liz or Alex, you jumped into Liz's arms and began to let out a desperate whine. "I messed things up! Again! But for the record, he was such a dick. I just hope I don't have another enemy," you pouted, feeling Liz grip you rather tightly, until you managed to untangle yourself from her grasp and she gave you a sympathetic look.

"I'm sure it'll work itself out Silver –" but the three of you paused your conversation as the elevator doors opened. Your smaller group scrambled out of the elevator as quickly as possible, and you heard Liz let out a scoff as she began to push you along, with Alex casually walking alongside the two of you. "What's going on anyways?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. Something to do with talking to –"

"I mean, there was that stuff going on in Sinnoh. No one knows a damn about what's going on though," you heard Liz and Alex talking, casually, until their eyes turned to you with a suspicious gaze, and you gave both of them a light hearted chuckle. "Silver. What do you know?"

"Is it wrong for me to ask for my money up front?" you grinned back, only to let out an 'ow!' as Liz sucker punched you in the arm. "Not cool!"

"I doubt it's a big deal, right? The higher ups like to keep things hidden from us all the time," Alex responded, grabbing you and tugging you into his side, away from the glaring eyes of his old partner in crime, and she simply scoffed in response.

"Whatever. Don't spill the beans. Fine –"

"If I were to guess, they're just weeding out the spies, right now. It's probably because you guys just came in from Kalos that –" but the three of you paused when you heard someone letting out a panicked yelp, suddenly turning and trying to get away.

But before he got very far, Alex let you go and rushed forward, pulling out a taser and pressing a button. You barely managed to turn to notice the man on the ground, letting out a cry as volts of electricity surged through his body, and all Liz could do is sigh and grab you, tugging you into her side. "Well, there's one."

"He could have just let me finish. I was going to explain it was Galactic spies, but hey. If he's a Flare asshole I guess we can deal with that too," you responded, sighing to yourself as you closed your eyes, putting your fingers on the bridge of your nose as you tried to calm yourself down. "Good job, Alex."

"Grazie amore mio," he smirked back at you, causing you to smile sheepishly back and blush slightly, while Liz rolled her eyes.

"You two are a weird couple. Now, could we get a move on? I'm exhausted."

"We need to get you a date. Seriously," you huffed, only to yelp as she smacked you against the back of your head. "Abuse!"

"Sorry, but you're a moron!" she scoffed, only to grumble as you grabbed her arm and gave her a devious smirk. "… W-what?"

"You want some fun? We'll head over to Saffron City. _I know a few new clubs that you may like~_" you smirked crudely, and you watched as she let a slight blush appear on your face. "_**Whaaat~?**_ Not up for the challenge?"

"I-I am!... No three ways. And no, absolutely no, orgies. Or weird shit."

"Okay. For the record, I wasn't expecting any of that!" you huffed, blushing madly at the faint memory, but you quickly shook your head. "Besides, we got out of there before things got, ah, weird."

"… Weird? Silver, it's called sex, and you need to grow up –"

"Nope! Let's go," you scoffed, suddenly pushing her along as she let out a confused yelp, but you didn't care. You were blushing so madly and your face was so red you felt like you were going to explode from embarrassment.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

You stood outside in the hallway. Your head pressed up against the wall, and the bottom of your shoe pressing into the wall as you breathed. Waiting… patiently…

But before you suddenly felt the desire to walk somewhere, anywhere but standing around like an idiot, you put your foot down as you heard the door opening, a man being dragged out by two guards, and a few other Rockets stepping out, walking away down both sides of the hallway. You watched, your eyes staring, until you felt a nudge on your shoulder and a smirking Liz grinning back at you. "Alex is going to be a while."

"Why? –"

"Something to do with a deal? Want to wait in the quarters?" she asked you, watching as you nodded simply in response, and she sighed, suddenly linking arms with you and tugging you along. "You're a helpless kid."

"Sorry that I'm such a kid," you rolled your eyes, letting her drag you away. But, you smirked in spite of yourself. "… I missed this."

"Me too," she chuckled, finally letting you go once you were walking alongside her down the hallway, and you cast her a curious look while she narrowed her eyes at you. "… What?"

"Are you sure? You don't like me or something? We're really just friends and all," you had to ask, causing her to scoff and nudge you in the shoulder.

"I'm into guys, 'kay? I know I'm a pretty little thing, but you have Alex now. Right?"

"Hmm…" you mumbled, and when you noticed her suspicious look you let out a shaky breath. "About that –"

"You're not dumping the guy already, are you? I mean, I get you're a big deal now, but it's barely been three months –"

"I've gotten so, so busy lately. I made an excuse to stick around for a few more weeks, but… I-I have to travel and… I don't want to hurt him," you frowned, only to feel her nudge you, again, causing you to give her a confused look. "What?"

"If I know Alex, he won't hate you for being busy. I think that's a reason why he's had his eyes on you since Sinnoh," she scoffed, "and the whole Galactic crap… Speaking of that crap –"

"I'm fine," you told her, but she huffed in response.

"I highly doubt that. _Care to share~?_" she smirked back, and you rolled your eyes at her, sighing deeply as you closed your eyes, thinking for a moment, before you ran a hand over your face, against your eye, before letting your hands drop to your side.

"It… sucks. I can feel so many emotions right now. Hate, spite… I-I mean I had all of that before, but now it's ten times worse. I've been talking to Cynthia a lot. She's had a harder time then I am… I told her that distracting yourself helps," you continued with a meek smile on your face. "She's in Johto for that exact reason."

"Oh?" you heard Liz ask in a curious tone as you continued with a tired sigh.

"Yes. She thinks there's a link between the Sinjoh Ruins and the Ruins of Alph. It's not a farfetch'd idea, but… I think there's more to it."

"Is there?" she stated, only for you to give her a curious look, and she smirked at you. "Sorry. I'm trying to be helpful, but I don't get how any of that can help you, or her."

"Hmm… I hacked into Team Galactic's systems in order to find something. Anything. A clue about what Cyrus was up to… No. I think he already tried to do what he wished to accomplish, but what happened in the distortion world…" you paused, your eyes going dark, but then you felt a nudge on your arm, and a playful smile on Liz's face. You know she's trying to help, but… "… The Cyrus that is still alive won't be the same emotionless man we encountered in Sinnoh. And if he's building an army of followers… it's going to be a big mess."

"Silver… this isn't your responsibility –"

"It is, actually," you scoffed, causing her to let out a huff, but you continued before she could tell you otherwise. "Cynthia's and mine. We are… linked in a way I wish we never were… I-I hate this. All of this," you sighed, reaching for your necklace and gripping your pendant, tightly, before hesitantly continuing. "I haven't even explained everything to my father, yet. None of this… I-I don't even know what I want, anymore. I used to be so hopeful before Sinnoh, and then moving around in Kalos was a way to ignore my problems, but… if I disappear, I don't want Alexis to think it was his fault," you stated, only to feel your face being turned, and your lips crashing into soft, plump lips.

You gasped, freezing as you stared wide eyed at the dirty blonde haired woman. But, you felt your eyes closing, enjoying the moment, only to have the woman let you go and smirk at you as you put your fingers on your lips and you gasped, heavily. "You need to stop thinking everything is your responsibility."

"L-liz –"

"I'm serious," she huffed, putting her fingers onto your lips, causing your face to blush redder and redder, and she grinned at your embarrassed state as she calmly continued. "You should explain your feelings to Alex before you ever think about dumping him. And, you're wrong that this is your responsibility. It's everyone's. Even mine. I'm going to do everything in my power to help you, within reason, of course," she smirked, and she chuckled at the shaky sigh you made in response. "… So, father eh? Who is he?"

"A-ah…" you responded, causing her to let out a huff in response.

"What? Skitty caught your tongue?... Don't tell me he's some higher up?" she spoke, and when you didn't give her an immediate response she let out a gasp. "No way! I'm actually right?"

"Liz, please –"

"How high up the totem pole? Do I know him? Is he the executive, Archer? –"

"Arceus, no! Ugh, that'd be disgusting," you shuddered at the thought, but noticing her smirk you sighed, grabbing her arm and tugging her further down the hallway, finally reaching an elevator as she pressed a button and waited for the door to slide open. "… I want to come clean to Alex, first."

"Why?" she couldn't help but ask in a curious tone, but noticing your unsure look, and the door opening, she tugged you inside. The two of you waited for the door to slide closed while she pressed a button, before she sighed to herself. "Why is it important that Alex is told, first?"

"I-it's going to change the entire dynamic of our relationship. That's why," you pouted, but then you continued with a shaky breath, "but… I-I don't want him learning from the other Rockets. They've been whispering and getting things wrong about me since I showed up, but that's only because I haven't said anything," you stated, and when you noticed the curious look on the woman's face, you rolled your eyes in response. "Please don't make this hard. At least give me a chance to say something tonight."

"If you say so," she smiled, but then paused and let out a scoff. "But seriously. Would it?"

"I mean… I didn't even know my father worked for Team Rocket a good two weeks ago. And when I put the pieces together… I feel stupid, honestly, that I didn't see it before. I was trying to ignore the truth, I think," you explained, "and… I-I don't want him to think he has to stay with me."

"Why would he? I mean, you're just a kid. And a bit of a goodie two shoes," she stated, but when she noticed your glare she continued. "Hey. You may have killed people, but you only do it when it's necessary. We do it because we're ordered to."

"… I'm not a very good person," you told her miserably, and you heard her scoff, but you simply closed your eyes and sighed to yourself. "Elizabeth, just let this go."

"I expect answers by tomorrow," she huffed at you, and you gave her a curious look.

"Are you not working tomorrow?"

"I have paperwork, but no new assignments. So, let's hang out! Unless you run off on us, like you usually do," she scoffed, the door opening and the two of you stepping onto the floor. "I don't get it. How can a kid like you disappear so easily?"

"Practice? Don't look at me. People can easily ignore me if I don't say a word for a while," you stated, and she huffed at you.

"Maybe you're part dark type. Or a ghost!"

"If I was a ghost, then I wouldn't be alive. Duh," you huffed, but then you smirked slyly. "_So where shall we go~?_ A bar? Club? There's not a lot to do in Viridian, Liz. We may have to make a day or two trip."

"You're rich. We can spend money on a helicopter," she smirked, only to laugh as you hit her, hard, in the shoulder.

"I'm not made of money! Idiot!"

"Ouch! Don't be so defensive!" she giggled, and you groaned and took a step away from her.

"We'd be renting a taxi, if necessary. I'm sure I can bum a ride off of someone… or use Blaze."

"I'm not getting on that fast fire lizard! He almost dropped me!"

"You were being loud and obnoxious," you stated simply, only to scoff as she jumped onto your back. "Get off! You fattie!"

"_Waaa~!_ You're so mean to me," she whined in your ear, only to jump off of your back and grab your arm, tugging you along at a much faster pace.


	17. Telling the Truth 2

**A/N: HEY GUYS!**

**Wow, we finally meet the 'mysterious boyfriend'. I tried to make him decently realistic… but what happened after this chapter is that I kind of pushed him to the side lines and didn't incorporate him into the story, too much. I may be switching the chapters around and rewriting them, after this point. Or maybe I'll continue on to the next chapters. I don't know.**

**But, I want to expand more on Silver and Alex's relationship, add Liz to the mix when I can, and maybe throw in more canon Rocket members for good measure? We'll see. And I drifted away from my whole programming side story, so I want to go back to writing about that. Or at least tying it into the story. So… this may be the point where I start to rewrite everything. Just so you know. **

**But I hope you guys are ENJOYING this story so far! And hopefully I'll be posting soon… but it maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, but I'll be rewriting parts of this story, first. Well, ENJOY YOURSELVES! And if you're Americans, enjoy this upcoming 4****th**** of July!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"Wow… Silver you acted too rashly. You're going to have to apologize to Mitch and give him a reason to trust you again, if you care about mending that relationship," Alex told you while you leaned your back against his side. The two of you were sitting on an old ratty couch, with the only light coming from a nearby lamp sitting upon a nightstand. Of course, everyone else had headed off to bed, but you just wanted to stay up. Just a moment longer. If it meant you could hear Alex's voice again… and again, and again.

So you can confirm that this isn't a dream, but reality.

"Y-yeah… I have an idea how."

"Oh?" he responded, and you linked your arm with his as you slumped further into his arm, yawning to yourself as you continued.

"I'll pay for his freedom. That way, he can leave this place and won't have to deal with a criminal like me. And he can go back to the life he wanted to live. I didn't kill Paul because I wanted to, Alex… I had a reason."

"Who is that Rachel? Is it a girl I met?"

"N-no," you chuckled to yourself as you continued. "We went to the same boarding school, sure, but she was a couple of grades below me. I was her senior. And, before I ran off with Olivia, she decided to join the programming club, back then known as the computer club… I guess. It was because of my meddling that child protective services was called and her father was sent to prison. Apparently, it wasn't for long."

"He probably wasn't convicted… or maybe the charges were dropped."

"Anyways, I knew he'd start trying to contact them, if he hadn't already… I don't like seeing people and pokemon in pain if they don't have to be. It reminds me of all the times I was kidnapped," you explained, and you could hear the man beside you letting out a deep sigh, but you couldn't help but glance at him. "So, Liz told me you had a deal? What sort of deal?"

"A job, deal. I'm tired of being an assassin and a spy. I know it hasn't exactly been a full year, but I had been wishing to join the security force," he explained, giving you a light smile as he continued. "While I would love to have a reason to follow you to the next region you decide to go to, Team Rocket is my home. And I want to protect that home. No matter what."

"Hmm… did you talk to your grandmother?" you asked in a curious tone, and he chuckled lightly to himself.

"Yes. Of course. I wouldn't have been allowed to if I hadn't. She's a little disappointed in me, hoping that I would aim for something a bit greater in the team, but I spent a lot of time thinking about this. And, I now have the clearance to kill when ordered, too. Those people I had to kill was all part of the recruitment. They wanted to make sure I could do it. At least I won't be starting at the very bottom, though. I'll be given a decent position with higher pay then what I'm getting paid now," he explained, and you nodded your head in response. "… I know you don't like it, but this is what I want to do with my life."

"It's just… you have a lot of potential. Staying with the team… I mean, you have every reason to leave, you know?"

"Yes, but there are kids here. And my entire life revolves around the team. It'd be hard to leave, even if I wanted to and was given the chance to… Though, let's be honest. I work better with my fists then my brain, anyways. I'm not the top tier battler, here," he stated, causing you to scoff in response.

"Battling really isn't that hard."

"Says a champion. And the kid who never ranked lower then… what? 10th place?"

"Sounds about right," you smirked back at him, only to close your eyes and sigh tiredly. "Though… these days my life seems too messed up."

"Hmm… You wanted to tell me something about your father, didn't you," he began, causing you to flinch, but he simply sighed in response. "I don't need to know, Silver. Whoever that guy is won't change how I view you."

"So you say, but people who used to hate my guts are now trying to kiss my ass. Who's the say you won't start acting differently around me?" you scoffed, only to feel a hand upon the top of your head, and he continued with a huff.

"I didn't change my ideas about you when we were in Sinnoh or in Kalos."

"Seriously? You called me a brat the first time we met," you chuckled, causing him to snicker at the thought.

"True, but I saw your potential. That's why I didn't exactly think about killing you, and I let you get away. Besides, you were trying to save those pokemon. I wasn't going to get in the way of that. And, it was Team Galactic. I don't give a shit about them," he told you, and you nodded as you let your eyes close.

"Well… you may just have to pile me in with every bad guy in the world, at this point."

"Hmm… We aren't determined by where we work, but how we live. You of all people should know that," he told you, but you simply pouted and slumped into his arm.

"Yeah… you promise me nothing will change, though? I… still cannot convince myself that this is real. I feel like I'm floating in a dream and I'm not close to waking up," you told him, and you felt the man shift beside you, managing to free his arm, trapping you against his side, and you sighed as he gently wrapped his arms around your body, tugging you closer.

"This is reality, Sylvia. This isn't a dream. We aren't in Sinnoh… I'm here for you. And I bet Liz is too… and I don't know about your father, but from the way you talk about him, I'm sure he's worried about you too."

"Y-yeah… if he's awake already he'll probably start freaking out that I've disappeared," you mumbled to yourself, causing the man to chuckle at the thought, but slowly you managed to slip your way out of his grasp, and he looked up at you, confusion in his soft olive eyes. Until he stared at you contently as you shifted away from him, suddenly straddling his lap as you settled your knees on either side of him, and your butt slumped onto his legs. You wrapped your arms around his neck, all the while keeping perfect eye contact with the man.

"… You really care," you couldn't help but say as you reached for the side of his face, running your hand through his shortened black hair, tugging slightly at the split ends and messy tangles, smiling sadly to yourself.

"I'm not leaving you," he told you, knowing exactly what was going through your mind, but you still couldn't help but feel worried. About losing him… like everyone else.

"You don't know that," you spoke in a whisper, but you didn't shed a tear. You just looked at his face, studying his features, as if this could truly be the last time you saw him. Well… you could be right. You honestly don't know what his reaction will be. But you promised yourself you'd tell him. This deep, dark secret. If only to get it off of your chest.

You know Alexis. Maybe not for years and years, but for about three, now. He's quiet, an introvert, but he strangely cares. When everyone abandoned you to your warped mind, he was there. Trying to give you advise. He didn't have to. Liz told him that, and you know that it would have better if they ran away, but he kept an eye on you. Tried to give you some words of wisdom.

And he didn't really know you.

He just said that he reminded you of a kid he once knew. A kid that was too kind for Team Rocket, but grew up alongside him. A kid that he lost, because he was too nice. He couldn't hurt a pokemon or a person… and it was a person. An intruder, that did him in.

He didn't want to see the same thing happen to you, apparently.

And he didn't even know you… did he?

"… I'm not leaving," he told you, but as he noticed your sorrowful silver eyes turn to confusion, then caution, he couldn't help but frown. "What are you thinking?"

"Did… did some higher up tell you to keep an eye on me, Alexis? Back then. In Sinnoh. W-were you told not to leave me?" you couldn't help but ask, and you flinched as you felt his finger flick at the side of your face, flicking a tear that you were beginning to shed. Noticing his thoughtful eyes, you couldn't help but feel sorrowful. Tearful. It took all of your willpower not to cry right then and there, as if you knew the truth.

But what was the truth and your own dark thoughts were two different realities.

"Our mission was over," he told you, his hands situating themselves in the curve of your backside, and while his eyes tried to continue to stare up at you, you watched as his gaze drifted. Not around the room, but at your necklace… your natural curves… your shoulders and neck as he continued. "Liz and I were given the order to leave the area. Not quite Sinnoh, but we weren't supposed to stick around. Galactic's plans had been foiled by a bunch of kids and the Sinnoh reigning champion, and Liz, honestly didn't want to get caught.

"But… when everyone thought that you, that Cynthia, and that disgusting Cyrus disappeared for good… you fell out of a disturbing black wormhole that ripped forth from existence… and Liz and I were the only ones there to watch you both plummet onto the altar. The Galactics had been standing there, waiting for hours, but had given up. The trainers that fought Galactic had left the scene, too, in sorrow. Everyone thought you all had died. Including me. Liz and I lingered because we were waiting for the opportunity to snoop, and once that chance happened we gathered what we wanted and were ready to leave. Finding enough evidence to satisfy the executives, or at the very least the boss.

"But then… I couldn't just leave you two like that. That… pain. You were in so much pain," he sighed, closing his eyes tightly at the memories, but feeling your hand suddenly tilting his head up, so you could see his reactions for yourself, his eyelids opened up, slowly, as he remembered the past that he wished, oh you could tell he wished, he could forget… but maybe he couldn't.

Like you.

"Liz and I, Liz called upon her dusclops and had her send Cynthia to the nearest pokemon center. You, on the other hand… she didn't like the idea of keeping you around. Bringing you to the hideout we had set up, but I insisted. I felt like… I had to.

"For every single time I failed Percy… I couldn't. I couldn't leave you, and I knew that a hospital or a pokemon center wouldn't be very helpful. So, I brought you wish us, made sure you woke up… and said the excuse that we need to see what happened. And you're not as important as a champion is, so no one would look for you. Everyone would have thought you died," he told you, smiling meekly up at you as you noticed his eyes starting to water. "B-but… I was surprised when the Boss, of all people, messaged Liz and… we told him that we had a girl. That her name is Silver, and what made us do a double take was the fact that he ordered us to keep an eye on you. Something to do with keeping a promise.

"That's when Liz gave a damn, but… S-silver… I… for the first time in a long time, I was actually afraid you weren't going to make it," he told you, but before he could continue you gently rubbed his tears away, smiling down at him as he closed his eyes and sighed tiredly. "I'm such a crybaby. I apologize."

"Don't apologize. I never realized I affected you that way," you told him, your smile slowly becoming a slight line, "but… it was because of direct orders from your boss that you kept me around, huh?"

"It was Liz's reason, even if she'll deny it. I on the other hand wanted to make sure a spunky, but kind kid that was in way over her head hadn't died. I know you keep most of your experience in that… distortion world place a secret, but I still cannot help but worry," he explained, and you calmly nodded your head, before you suddenly leaned forward and planted a soft, but chaste kiss on his forehead. You smirked at the bright blush that quickly invaded his face, and you giggled in delight as he narrowed his eyes at you, in an attempt to hide the fact that he, a grown man, was embarrassed. "For the record, I never thought we'd end up like this. A couple, I mean."

"Me neither, but you are rather cute," you responded with a grin, only to giggle as he leaned upward, grabbing your backside so you couldn't slip out of his arms. "A-alex! –"

"You know… I could take you right here and now," he told you, and you blushed madly in response at the serious look on his face, but the lustful gaze in his eyes. And once he was satisfied with your shy reaction, he continued, suddenly leaning to his side, and kissing your sleeved arm, causing you to let out a shaky breath, "but we both know you're not ready."

"I-I'm sixteen, you ass hat. If I-I wanted to –"

"I'm not stealing your virginity away. Not unless you want it," he told you, simply, his gaze now looking up at you, and you couldn't stop your mad blush. "I'm not that terrible."

"You're not terrible. I mean… your kind of the reason why I don't think all criminals are, well, terrible people. Evil people. That we all have flaws and live our lives accordingly. No matter the situation. Some people end up being terrible people over time, while others persevere and end up being nice and good. It's all about how we live our lives… r-right? You said that to me," you told him, and he chuckled to himself.

"Perhaps… not quite in that way, but you're right –"

"You're right, though," you stated, and when he raised a curious, unsure eyebrow you continued with a meek smile. "I-I'm not, ah… ready. Not really. I mean, I'd love to have sex with you, but…"

"… I wasn't expecting anything, by the way. You know I'm not the most intimate person," he told you, sighing to himself, "but I try. I swear."

"Y-yeah… so do I," you couldn't help but say, the two of you simply sitting there, silently. Enjoying the silent atmosphere.

But… while you do enjoy his company and hoped that, maybe, this wouldn't have to come to an end, you know that he could very well leave you. At any moment. It was a fearsome thought. And no matter what he tries, those nasty thoughts will continue to creep into your mind… but…

You need to tell him. It's important, and you're sure he can put the pieces together, in the same way you had too. He may say that he's not smart and just a brute, but you like him because of the conversations you can have with him. How smart he actually is, without even knowing about it. His 'potential', as he likes to say about you, all the time. Sure… maybe he isn't as 'smart' as you, in certain things, but he shows you a world you never could dream about. A life you want to have… with him.

Kids… a family… you've actually thought those things, when you're with him. A life without Alexis just wouldn't be the same, anymore.

The thought of losing him, either because he walks away or he suddenly… disappeared without a trace, brought you to tears. You could tell your sudden sorrowful state worried him, again. And you chuckled miserably as he reached for your face, trying to brush away your sadness. "Alexis," you began, getting his attention as he frowned, his hand shying away from your face slightly.

"What's the matter, Sylvia?" he asked in a calm, curious tone. Trying to show sympathy, which you did appreciate.

But he couldn't help but stare at you with a worried glance as you reached for his hands, putting his hands upon your lap, as you stared at his hands, thinking. Pondering your thoughts, compiling everything together, before you let out a deep, cleansing breath. Trying to push the fear and negativity away and simply… tell him. Just… you have to. "Alex… I… you've shared a lot with me. About your family, your life… while here I am, keeping secrets."

"Silver it's okay –"

"My family… where I come from. We are known for keeping our secrets, even with our own relatives. For all we know, one day, we could turn on one another and use our secrets against one another. I-I know I speak highly of my father, a-and I do love him, but… that fear of him leaving is still there. A-and… it was that fear that I left him," you couldn't stop yourself from letting out a sniffle as you put a hand on your face, trying to stop your tears, but they simply kept flowing. You were grateful that Alex wasn't trying to stop you. Probably knowing that this was hard for you to say, but you needed to keep going. Persevere. Just… stop being such a wimp about this. "I don't deserve his forgiveness. H-he acts like everything is alright, but it's not. I-I… ignored him for more then a year. It could have been more, if I didn't decide to confront him.

"I was lucky that Koga-sensei was around. I don't think I would have ever shown up here otherwise. Even if I wish to see your own family. Your own life. I-I don't think I could build up enough courage to do so," you told him, closing your eyes and sighing exhaustingly to yourself. "I-I… While, at one point, the thought of being a Rocket crossed my mind, I know that throwing away my life for a boy, a lover, wasn't worth it in the end. And… I needed my answers first before I could move on. You told me that."

"Y-yeah. Sì, I did. I could tell your questions were eating up at you," he told you, but you continued.

"So… I did follow your advice, but now… I can't go back," you stated, giving him a sad look as he pouted at your gaze.

"Go back from what?"

"Everything I ever knew was a lie. My name, my identity… e-everything. Everything, Alex. And I've just been pretending that I'm alright with everything, but I'm not. I'm not!" you sniffled, putting a hand back up to your face as you let the tears fall freely down your face. "It… hurts so much and I don't know what to do anymore! These emotions… i-if I hadn't been cursed by Giratina, if I had just kept my nose out of Galactic's business and listened to my father, I wouldn't be so confused. So… **angry**. I know I should be angry, sure, but my anger is so… o-overwhelming right now. And the thought of killing," you sniffled, closing your eyes tightly as you put your hand up to your face, trying to hide the fact that you were feeling those emotions, again. Those painful, overwhelming emotions that never did feel this way, before.

Before, you could push your pain aside. Before, you never did get too angry. You never had an anger problem, but this? Now?

_**It hurts.**_

"Silver, it's okay. I'm here," he told you, but before he could wrap his arms around you, you continued as you slipped away from him, leaning away, but not quite getting off of his lap, yet.

"I let these emotions out and then I cannot breathe. A-alexis I-I… I'm still not alright. Everything is worse, now, a-and I don't know what to do," you told him, but before you could start outright sobbing, he grabbed you, tugging you into his chest as he put his hands upon the top of your head and your back, pinning you in place as he rubbed the top of your head, gently. Brushing through your long, soft hair as he sighed deeply to himself.

"You don't need to kill to prove a point. Silver, I know you. You just need to… I think what you need is to tell your father your feelings. Explain to him what happened in Sinnoh," he told you, rubbing your back as he sighed tiredly. "It sounds like to me that, while you were given an apology, you're not convinced that everything is alright between the two of you. That the rift you had placed between you and him has disappeared… You need to tell him about what happened in the distortion world," he told you, but you let out a shaky breath.

"What if he hates me, though? Who I am, now? I-I'm a monster Alex –"

"You're not a monster. You are as human as I am –"

"N-no. I'm not –"

"Yes… aura users are out there, and psychics are a thing too. You're not different than that. You're not a monster or a freak. Ti amo," he told you, simply, but you couldn't stop yourself as you began to sob into his shoulder, and you could feel his hands gently rubbing your backside. "Breath… I'm here…"

You don't know how long you sat like this, crying until you had no more tears to shed. Letting your emotions out, and eventually… you felt a strange calm overcoming you… and you could tell he was on the verge of falling asleep from how quiet you had gotten, but when you moved, lifting yourself off of him to sit properly on his lap, again, his eyelids slowly flickered open and he looked up at you, with a bit of confusion on his face.

Slowly, you grasped his hands, smiling meekly at him as you continued. "It's… hard to say this. I don't think I even have, yet. But… if anyone should know, it's you. I don't think of our relationship can move forward if I don't tell you who my father is.

"Do you really love me? Enough to not change the way you look at me?" you couldn't help but ask, and he smiled sadly up at you.

"I don't know what you think will change my view about you, but I didn't like you because of where you come from. But who you are, as a person. You're too sweet to be with me, and honestly, I'd rather see you live a happier life then be here at Team Rocket. You don't deserve to be a Rocket. You don't have to be one. You're too smart and kind and thoughtful to ever be one," he told you, but noticing your sad face, he continued, "but… don't be pressured by your father to join us. I understand that feeling more then anyone. Don't hate yourself if you disappoint him."

"Alexis… my father…" you paused, wiping at your already tear stained face, but then you let out a shaky breath before continuing. A serious, but also rather emotionless look overcoming your face, and you watched as his face became solemn as you continued. "I am… not a Sakaki. That was a lie. You wouldn't even find me in the Viridian City residency listings… and my father isn't there as a Sakaki either.

"My father… I am…" you closed your eyes for a moment, letting out a scoff, knowing that you had to stop being a torchic about this. Noticing the new resolve in your eyes, you could see Alex staring up at you with a strange gleam in his eyes. Admiration? Lust, perhaps? You're not quite sure, but you continued as bluntly as possible, in order to get the words out of your mouth, "I am Sylvia Mariam Rocket. And my father is Giovanni… Rocket. I am the… he… I'm the daughter of the boss of Team Rocket," you managed to say, letting out an exhausted sigh as you closed your eyes. You honestly didn't want to open your eyes and see the man's reaction, but… considering he didn't yell or throw you off of his lap, you took that as a better sign then what you were assuming, and you slowly opened your eyes.

Only to look at him utterly confused. "W-what's with that thoughtful look?" you scoffed, but he simply gave you a light smile in return.

"Mariam… you mean like Maria? That must have come from your grandmother, then," he told you, and you couldn't let out a response except let out a confused squeak. Your voice not letting you respond to his words, considering you were shocked by what he had to say, but he honestly continued, "and Rocket… If I'm correct, isn't the Boss' surname actually Rosso?"

"… How do you know that stuff?" you had to ask, but he simply smiled sadly in response.

"My grandmother insisted that I learned the ins and outs of the team. We know that the Boss never uses the name of Rosso, but any Rocket that had been around before your, ah… the current boss was born, apparently, and around the time the team was properly formed, they'd know about the Rossos."

"And how much do you know about them?" you had to ask, but he sighed in response.

"Not much. My grandmother knows more, in fact. I know the basics. That's all… sorry," he replied, but you quickly shook your head.

"N-no. I mean… I wasn't expecting this reaction from you –"

"I told you. My thoughts won't change about you… I mean, I **am** surprised," he chuckled nervously, knowing that you were going to look at him with worry in your eyes, again, "but not quite as surprised as I could be, I guess."

"Why not? –"

"I mean, there have been whispers about this girl hanging around the Boss. And then you recently told me that you apologized and kind of patched things up with your father. I knew it was a possibility that, perhaps, you are the boss' kid, but I never came to that conclusion until you decided to tell me. I wasn't going to assume," he told you, but noticing your face fall, he put a hand on your face and made you look into his eyes, as he smiled kindly in response. "I will say this, though. Nothing about us has to change, if you don't want it to. I won't treat you any differently, and if you still want to leave I won't stop you."

"A-alex –"

"And if you need help leaving, I will help you. It seems like to me you feel obligated to stay here –"

"N-no –"

"Then why?" he asked, causing you to pout.

"Why… a-ah… My father never wanted me to learn the truth," you told him honestly, though you have a feeling he already knew that, "and he still doesn't want me to linger, but… I-I kind of… I need to, right now," you stated, but feeling him pat the side of your cheek, you flinched and gave him a confused look in response.

"Fine. Then stay. But work out your problems, Silver. I'll be around if you want me to be."

"I don't want you to leave, Alex… I-I just… wasn't sure if you'd stay," you told him, only to feel his arms suddenly wrap around you, pulling you into another tight hug.

"I'm going to be here for however long you want me. I would never leave you just because you're the boss' daughter. Even under the threat of death."

"Alex! –"

"The boss can't pay me to leave you, okay? Speaking of that –"

"A-ah… No. No, I don't think he knows I'm dating," you told him, leaning away to give him a nervous chuckle. "I'm sure he wants to see me as his little girl, still."

"Hmm… we'll keep this between us, then –"

"I don't want you to think that you will go up the ranks because you know me. I-I mean I can sway things in your favor, sure, but –"

"Like you, Silver, I want to climb the ladder of success with my own merits. It's not like I take nothing away from this relationship we have," he told you, causing you to give him a confused look.

"Like what? –"

"You're a strong, independent young woman. You work for yourself, and when you work, you work hard. You put your whole self into your work… Before you, I was just wallowing in my own despair. You've given me a reason to have goals and work hard towards those goals. To not live in mediocrity. It's one of the many reasons why I love you so much, amore mio," he smirked, and he chuckled at the slight blush that crept onto your face. "If you're like the boss, then no wonder Team Rocket has lasted for long as it had."

"… I-I'd like it if you didn't compare me to him, though," you decided to say, and he nodded his head.

"Understood. Sorry –"

"N-no. I mean… I still don't know if I should be angry that I've been lied to for so long, scared that he could disappear one day, or just relieved that he isn't tossing me out onto the streets and is putting up with my antics," you told him, and he chuckled at your words. "What?"

"You're so honest. I know that took a lot of energy to be honest with me," he stated, causing you to smile meekly in response, "but maybe we should call it a night? Or morning?"

"R-right… Sorry –"

"Don't apologize. If my grandmother heard the boss' kid apologizing she'd probably smack me in the head," he huffed, but you giggled lightly at his words.

"Smack you, huh? Not me?"

"It's like she worships the team. It's rather irritating," he scoffed, but then gave you a light smile, "and besides, if she did that she'd be afraid of being reprimanded."

"Ah… speaking of that –"

"I won't tell. Trust me. You have my word," he told you, and you let out a slight breath.

"Grazie, Alexis."

"Of course, amore. It's also up to you to explain everything to Liz," he smirked, and you huffed in response.

"Right… Arceus, I'm not even sure if I want everyone to know –"

"Just swear her to secrecy –"

"Well the boss kind of showed up and stormed in, scaring everyone in the cafeteria. I'm pretty sure a nice chunk of people at this base, at least, know my relations with the boss. Your boss. It's still hard," you stated, causing the man to nod his head.

"I'll support you. Like usual. Nothing has changed, Silver."

"I-if you say so –"

"I know so. I know you have a lot of doubts, but trust me. Please. Have I ever lied, intentionally?" he told you, and you sighed.

"Hmm… fine. Just… you'll back me up, right?"

"Of course. I wouldn't be a good boyfriend otherwise –"

"And you still owe me a proper date. A nice restaurant this time," you told him with a smirk, and you snickered as he let out an exhausted sigh.

"I know… at least give me a few more days. There's a bunch of work to do."

"Sure. I have some work I'm dealing with too, _but don't wait too~ long_. I'm going to have to leave this base eventually and do some roaming," you told him, causing him to chuckle.

"As long as you come back to me, I'll be content."

"Same goes for you," you smirked, leaning in and gently kissing his lips, and you softly moaned, feeling his arms wrapping around you as he tugged you closer into him.

You felt… so hot right now… but you know this isn't the time. It's not. And you're honestly too tired to do much, anymore. You just… wanted to enjoy this. This moment. This love.

It's so… so nice to be loved like this…

You honestly wonder if anything is going to change between the two of you, though. You'd just have to wait and see… you suppose.


	18. Telling the Truth 3

**A/N: Okay! I lied!**

**This will be the last chapter I post before I start rewriting everything I have written, up to this point. After this chapter things get rather… scatterbrained. But, this isn't too bad. Yeah, I've already written another 10+ worth of chapters and now I'm going to scrap all of that, but I didn't like where I was going with the story, after this point.**

**The whole 'Mitch' side plot… I may hold off on the resolution for a tiny bit, maybe. And after this, I may not post for a little bit because I'll be typing up new chapters, first.**

**Oh! And I've wanted to do some sort of 'summer' chapter. It's going to be a bit hard considering Silver is at the base, but maybe I'll have some festival chapter happening, at some point. And I may have Silver 'out and about' sooner then I thought previously. I was getting a bit irked by this story because Silver had still been at the base for more then 30 chapters, and I think that was too much time for her to be there. But, don't worry! She won't be gone for long! After all, this is a story about Team Rocket, mostly. And as the title says, I'll probably have her in 'evergreen', aka Viridian City, at some point. After all, she made a bunch of promises to other canon characters that she hasn't fulfilled, so I think I'll have that happen sooner rather than later.**

**Okay! That's where I am with this story! And considering I'm starting anew, from this point forward, if you guys have any COMMENTS on how you'd like the story to go or characters you'd like to see, COMMENT or MESSAGE me! I'd love to hear back from you guys. And hearing from you guys does keep me motivated to keep writing my stories. I tend to lose interest if I feel like I don't have a captivated audience… So yeah.**

**And lastly, at some point this month I'll be going on vacation, so it may take me longer to post a lot of content at once. Just so you're aware, but I'll try to keep working on this story. ALRIGHT! YOU GUYS ENJOY YOURSELVES! See you soon!**

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

You groaned, sitting back in the computer chair as you put your arm over your face. No matter how hard you tried to concentrate, you couldn't help but feel extremely nervous.

Alex has been busy all day, while you've been trying to avoid Liz. She didn't exactly take the news well that you're the boss' kid, and you're worried she's going to do something stupid. In front of you. In front of someone like Archer. Geeze… this day is turning sour, fast.

And, you didn't get a lot of sleep last night.

You barely slept more then three hours, at most, and to top it off your father was waiting for you in the apartment. He was miffed, scolding you, but you could tell he was more curious about where you had wandered off to, at such a late hour. And now… you heard a familiar 'meow', trying to get your attention, and all you could do is let out an irritable scoff.

"I don't need a babysitter," you grumbled underneath your breath, more to yourself then to the feline now scratching her paws against your leg, tugging at your long black socks. "Alright! Fine! We'll get lunch," you responded with a huff, the persian sitting and holding her head up, waiting with her glaring red eyes as you continued to lean back, barely making any sort of movement before you slowly sat up and let out a yawn. "… You don't have to be so mean."

"Peroww."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I needed to see some people. I'm almost seventeen. I'm not a little kid," you told the persian, even though you know she didn't exactly care about your excuses. Just that she was going to follow you **all day**.

Great. Just perfect.

You just know this day is going to go from bothersome to terrible in a matter of moments. You're sure of it.

But, whatever. Your day isn't going any better, so you slowly sat up, sighing and letting out a loud yawn as you stretched your arms, before you typed something on the computer, alerting Ghost that you were leaving, and you released your magnezone to watch over the room as you let the persian follow… or rather walk alongside you.

You were getting looks, from confusion to slight fear, to annoyance that you happen to have a pokemon roaming about, but you bet everyone knows that this persian is the boss'. Your father's. A roaming feline that usually alerts people that, hey, the boss is here. You better be working. But all Rob really wants is food and a cool place to nap in. It's not like she cares about what other people are doing, but that's not what everyone else thinks.

And that's probably why your father doesn't care if his persian roams around the base, knowing that she can take care of herself.

Still, the fact that the persian was following you **everywhere** was starting to get on your nerves, but you were more worried about Alex, if you're going to be honest… and Mitch. Your hand shifted into your jacket inner pocket, making sure a particular envelope was still there, before you sighed heavily and continued to walk, silently. Every so often you'd glance at the persian, but eventually you ignored her. It's easy, considering this persian has been by your father's side long before you were born. She'd follow you around the manor whenever your father was around, just to make sure you weren't getting yourself into some sort of mischief. Heck, your first little memory was probably the persian grabbing the back of your shirt and pulling you away from… a cliff? A river? Whatever.

"Sorry for causing you trouble," you decided to say, patting the top of the persian's head as she affectionately purred back in response, but you grew quiet as you both stepped into the cafeteria, and you had to put your hand in front of her face so she wouldn't jolt towards the food.

It didn't take long for you to get food, and something to drink to keep you awake, before sitting at a lone table and sighing to yourself. You handed off an entire plate full of food, edible for a feline pokemon, for her to eat, while you calmly began to eat at your own plate, with a thoughtful look on your face as you pondered everything. Alex, Mitch, and your father. Liz… and your plans for the future.

But as you sighed tiredly to yourself, you suddenly heard your name being cried out, followed by arms wrapping around your backside. "_Sillvvverr~!_"

"Liz. Is there a problem?" you responded in such a monotone way that she let you go and outright scoffed. "What?"

"You look like a baby 'mon that has been kicked in the face. What's wrong with you? You've been moppy for far too long," she scoffed, but you rolled your eyes at her, causing her to huff. "Anyways, were you looking to sit alone?" she asked you, her tray of food in her hands while you gave her a light smile.

"No, actually. Just don't mind the persian," you stated, and you smirked as the feline let out a huff, tilting her head up proudly, while Liz let out a nervous chuckle.

"Ah… so, did you get into trouble last night or something?"

"You could say that. I'm stuck being babysat all day," you scoffed, picking at your food as you continued, "so hear back from Alex yet?"

"Nah. He's doing some training stuff right now. Working out some details, but apparently he's already been accepted as a security guard… Ah, though what position he has I don't know, yet."

"They're a secretive bunch, aren't they?" you stated as you ate at your food. "The one time I met the executive in charge of that group, he was cussing me out for making a mess."

"Harsh," Liz responded, but you shrugged your shoulders.

"I really don't care. You can't please everyone. So, what are you doing today?"

"_I'm being bored~!_" she groaned, and then she let out a yawn into her hand.

"Did you finish your work?" you asked, earning you a growl, which caused you to huff in response. "Hey. I'm not going to be an excuse for you to blow off doing your work."

"What's with you and doing work? You're such a busy body!"

"Keeping myself busy helps me from not losing it," you responded with a scoff. "Besides, work is work, and it needs to get done –"

"My Arceus! You must have been the goodie two shoes that _**always~**_ did their homework, weren't you?" she huffed, but you couldn't stop the smirk that appeared on your face. "Holy crap. You are!"

"You can't be a president of a club if you don't get good grades. At least at the school I attended. I needed at least a B average to have any sort of leadership position, but every gal had high grades. It was expected, and to reach the top 100 listing was even harder."

"… You smarty pants," she huffed, causing you to roll your eyes, but she suddenly nudged you, grinning from ear to ear. "Lex is right about you!"

"For the record, I wasn't doing well in school until I was in 4th grade, and even then, I had to work diligently to reach the president position. I wasn't even given the chance to join student council, though I probably would have if I went onto secondary school," you told her, but she scoffed in response. "Doing things hands on is easier for me then reading about it, anyways."

"Hmm… still. You're a smarty pants," she stated, and you rolled your eyes at her, letting out an annoyed huff as she continued, "so… does that mean you're still working?"

"Look… being a champion isn't easy and at some point I'm going to have to roam around the region for a bit. So, yeah, I'm kind of busy… but my schedule right now is my own and I get to pick when I do things," you explained, pausing for a moment before continuing. "Why? Do you want to hang out?"

"Yes! I haven't been able to hang out in a while, and you gloated that you know all about Viridian," she stated, but you shrugged your shoulders.

"Eh. It's been a while. Stuff has changed –"

"Still! I need a wingwoman to help me out," she told you, but then you gave her a light smile.

"Sounds like fun, if you're paying for my drinks."

"What?! –"

"First two. Or our dinner. I expect to eat, after all," you stated, causing her to let out a scoff.

"… Fine. The drinks, that's it!"

"_Aww~. Is this a date~~?_" you grinned deviously, only to outright laugh as she hit you, hard, in the arm.

"I'm not gay!"

"You'd be cute if you were. _**Too bad~**_" you sighed, only to flinch as she hit you, again, but luckily it wasn't enough to leave a bruise… you hope. "I'm going to have to ask my dad, though."

"Oh… right. Your dad is…"

"I doubt he cares too much. Even if he says no, I'll find a way out –"

"I'm not going to get in trouble for you. You're such a brat," she huffed, but you shrugged your shoulders in response. "But, seriously. Did you get into trouble? –"

"I mean, I got yelled at for not telling him where I was going. Even though I left a damn note. I have to tell him if I'm leaving the base, but other then that it wasn't that big of a deal," you told her, but she pouted, causing you to give her a confused look. "What?"

"He didn't do something to you, did he? –"

"He doesn't hit me, if that's what you're asking," you scoffed. "I just had to sit there and hear a lecture from him for a good hour. That's all. I mean, geeze. He just kept ranting!... Whatever. I suppose I understand why he was so worried," you finished as you continued to eat at your plate, causing her to sigh.

"Well, as long as we're cool."

"We are," you stated, watching her nod, and the two of you resumed eating your lunch, while you gave Rob a gentle pat on the head, before fully engrossing yourself back into your meal.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

"Hey there."

"Ciao, amore mio," Alex responded, the two of you quickly pecking lips, but you noticed your father's persian suddenly letting out a low growl, causing the man to give her an unsure look, before he sighed tiredly and took a seat next to you, which caused Liz to scoot over.

"What? No kiss for me?"

"Do you want one?" Alex countered, causing Liz to scoff and blush, looking away in embarrassment.

"Not from you!"

"Makes me wonder…" you thought aloud, looking over at her, only to have her let out a string of curses, which you both ignored. "So, have you eaten yet?"

"No. I've been too busy. It doesn't even feel like I slept –" he flinched as you suddenly handed something to him, and he happily took the food you offered him. "Grazie."

"Prego, _**but you need to eat. You're acting too much like my father if you don't eat all day,"**_ you scoffed, causing the man to blush slightly at your words, and Liz simply glared at the two of you.

"… Don't do that."

"Do what? –"

"Speak in that Italian! I don't know what the hell you just said! –"

"My love is scolding me for not eating properly," Alex responded, causing Liz to stare at the two of you, slowly calming down with a sigh, but it was more of an agitated sigh then a relived one. "This doesn't happen every day. I just didn't have time to eat breakfast –"

"_**Still. Eat. I'll drag you by your ear into the cafeteria so you can eat, if I must,"**_ you continued, causing Alex to pout, and still blush madly, while Liz let out an annoyed sigh.

"You two. And why are you trying to talk in Italian anyways?! I thought you weren't very good –"

"Practice," you responded simply, while Alex sighed and quickly finished the food you handed over to him.

"You don't need to practice. My grandmother –"

"Will probably tear me a new one if I cannot even communicate with her. I thought you were the one who said she has trouble speaking Kantonese," you stated, and he gave you a meek nod.

"True, but she can still talk. She'll understand you and –"

"She'll be more impressed if I can talk with her. Besides, I needed to brush up on it anyways," you stated, getting a curious look from Liz.

"When did you ever learn Italian?" you heard Liz ask, and you shrugged your shoulders in reply.

"One of the many babysitters I had, I think. She spoke only in Sicilian –"

"Ah. That's why your accent seemed off," Alex stated, causing a scoff to leave your breath.

"_Well sooorry~. _I'm not changing **how** I speak. Just brushing up on it. Besides, my dad knows Italian and he's had to use it on multiple occasions," you responded, calmly eating your meal, and then you suddenly nudged Alex in the arm. _**"Oi. Go eat."**_

"Yes ma'am," he chuckled nervously as he rushed off, leaving you sitting at the table with an utterly confused Liz and a bored looking persian.

"What did you just order him to do!? –"

"To eat. Now, what did you hear about the Sinnoh stuff?" you inquired, again, causing the slightly older woman to let out an irritable sigh.

"I was saying –"

"Hey! If it isn't the twerpette!" the three of you heard a familiar meowth speaking, causing Liz to outright groan, the persian to lift her head and glare menacingly, and you smirked as the trio approached your table.

"Good afternoon guys. What's up?" you asked in a curious tone, watching Jessie and James calmly sitting next to each other, while Jessie was glaring at Liz, judging her, and James chuckled nervously as he set aside the plate he had grabbed for Meowth.

"Cassidy got on her nerves again," James stated, but he quickly noticed the boss' persian having a staring contest with the growling meowth, and he chuckled nervously. "Ah, what's the Boss' persian doing here?"

"Babysitting. Apparently I can't be trusted to be fine for one hour," you scoffed in response, causing Liz to snicker at your explanation.

"You know, having a persian watch you is kind of funny –"

"Shut up!" you huffed, whacking her in the arm, causing the girl to laugh in response while you scoffed and glared back at her. "This is humiliating and you know it!"

"We could get rid of the annoying persian," Meowth suggested, only to yelp as he was pawed away by the persian, only to purr as you patted the top of her head, causing the meowth to let out a needy whine. "_Silv~~_ –"

"What is my hand, pokenip? What's with you felines wanting me to pet you so much?" you huffed in irritation, turning your attention back to the others. "Anyways, long story short, I snuck out late at night and worried my – ah… the boss," you decided to say, though the look on your face told them you still didn't want to call your father 'boss', but you scoffed as you turned your gaze to Liz. "To see Liz and her partner showing up."

"That could have waited till today, you know –"

"I've been bored for more than a week. Besides, I wasn't sleeping well last night anyways," you responded, picking at your food, before glancing and turning your attention to the other two. "Other then the usual bickering, are you three doing anything interesting?"

"Not yet!" James suddenly shouted, causing you to give him a curious look while Jessie simply groaned at the thought.

"Word around the street is that the cops may be cracking down on some Rocket stuff in Kanto and Johto," Liz responded, causing you to shrug.

"Eh. I still think it has something to do with Sinnoh. The base is rather empty and even Milo was shipped out."

"What? That whiny twerp that thinks he's a hacker?" Liz scoffed, causing you to nod and groan at the same time. "I didn't realize he's working here."

"Yeah. And I'm not sure for how long. He almost messed everything up," you snarled in response, but noticing the curious looks everyone was giving you, you huffed and turned back to staring over at Liz. "You know how I explained I helped hack into the Team Galactic systems from here, right?"

"Right –"

"The only reason I did was because stupid Milo called me, and when I showed up he was panicking. He was so incompetent that another hacker, who doesn't even come close to my skills, had bugged Team Rocket's systems. If I hadn't been at the base and shown up at the right time, your entire network would be down right now and they'd have to restart everything. Wiping the computers clean and etcetera," you stated, noticing the thoughtful look on Liz's face as she tried to understand what you just said, only for you both to flinch when Jessie slammed her hands onto the table.

"What?! Where is that traitor!? –"

"Probably in Sinnoh. He and his team. He left around the same time you three first showed up. That's why I'm assuming a lot of people are being sent to Sinnoh, for whatever the boss is doing," you stated, pointing at Jessie and James in particular.

"You don't know?" James inquired, and you shrugged your shoulders in response.

"Don't know. Don't care," you responded bluntly. "He's stopped being all worried, staying awake at all hours of the night, so I'm guessing everything is running smoothly. Now. Whatever info I handed over to him was enough to be helpful," you stated, causing Jessie to give you a skeptical look.

"What sort of information?"

"A whole bunch of data. I also sabotaged Galactic's systems, so they're going to have to start over anyways. If they want to truly rise again as a team. You mess with me, and I mess with you. As far as I'm concerned, they're not supposed to exist anymore. Their boss even ordered their disbandment."

"That never stops a team from continuing to function," Jessie told you, causing you to glance over at her as she continued with a scoff. "After all, there was a point when the Boss left the team and everything was run by the executives –"

"Sure, but unlike Team Rocket, whose plans were foiled by an eleven year old trainer, I won," you stated, pointing to yourself and letting a snarl leave your breath. "Cyrus and I came to an agreement, and this Team Galactic that lingers needs to go. I let that worm leave without any deadly injuries if he made sure his team disappeared. Apparently, I need to work harder at getting rid of them. I thought I already did enough, but _apparently~_ the local police and Interpol can't do their damn jobs correctly," you sneered, causing Jessie to let a huff leave her breath.

"A deal? Is this Cyrus guy still around?" she asked, causing you to glance over at Liz, and she shrugged her shoulders at your words.

"Ah… technically… but not in our world," you responded, causing her to scoff.

"What does that even mean?! –"

"It means that Galactic is a bunch of crazies that did some rather stupid stuff," Liz responded with a huff. "Their whole plan was to change the entire universe, but that obviously didn't work."

"You're welcome. I practically threw away my soul to make sure Galactic didn't succeed, by the way," you responded with a huff, causing the trio to look at you confused as you scoffed to yourself.

"What. You did? I mean I know you're a bit fucked up in the head right now, but what exactly –"

"I told you. I'm not telling, so don't ask –"

"Is that why you have to talk to Cynthia almost every day?" Liz asked, causing you to roll your eyes and sigh deeply to yourself.

"Look. Let's just say that Team Galactic is just the specks of what remains of what their boss, Cyrus, ever wanted. What he wants now is probably more fucked up then it was supposed to be –"

"Is destroying the world not stupid already? –"

"Yes, but I'm trying to say that he's as messed up as Cynthia and I. And, for all we know, could be seeing absolutely everything. Past, present, and future. What he plans on doing with that sort of info is up to him, but while I wished he'd just disappear already, I have reason to believe he wants to do something."

"And that something is? –"

"If I knew I wouldn't be sitting around like an idiot, now would I?" you scoffed, only to feel a pat on your head, causing you to smile lightly and move back into your seat. "Hey Alex."

"Don't bring up Galactic, Liz. I'm not in the mood to deal with any problems today," Alex responded, though he gave you a smile in return before sitting down back in his seat, causing the woman to huff in response.

"I didn't! The topic kind of came up, so don't blame me!"

"We were originally talking about the fact that a lot of people are being shipped to Sinnoh and the rest are stuck at the bases, doing nothing," you explained, causing the man to give you a curious look.

"Oh," Alex responded, glancing at the trio before looking back to you, smiling lightly in response. "Would you like me to give my two cents?"

"If you want."

"It would be easier to have everyone out and about right now, but he doesn't want anyone to be giving away precious Rocket information. The executives already had to crack down on a bunch of spies in our mists, so tensions are high. That's why the boss called everyone back. They're making sure that our loyalties are still towards the team," he explained, finally turning his attention to his food and calmly starting to eat. "That's why my grandmother isn't at this base, in fact. She was told to report to a different base, in Hoenn."

"Oh?" you responded, causing him to nod.

"And our best daycare place is at the Johto base. That's why no kid is around, right now… except you," he finished with a smirk, only to chuckle as you playfully hit him in the arm. "Unless you have clearance, you're not allowed to leave a base right now, for a long period of time. There's a reason why we have a curfew," Alex stated, and you gave him a confused look.

"What? You guys do?"

"You can't be out later then midnight, and if you are you have to report directly to Executive Ariana," Liz stated, groaning at the thought. "Unless you're given permission."

"In other words, the base doors are closed by midnight. Anyone trying to get in after that time will be seen as suspect. But, I mean, if you're out in a large group and everyone has to return together, that's a good reason to be out longer then midnight."

"Because someone is incompetent and can't find the group," you responded, causing Alex to smirk at you and simply nod his head.

"Exactly –"

"Okay, so that means we **do** have time to party. Geeze, I see what happened," you chuckled, patting the persian's head at the thought, as you scratched behind her ears slightly.

"What?" Liz scoffed, but you shrugged your shoulders at her questioning.

"Why my dad was so, well, mad. He thought I had been kidnapped or something. But I left a damn note," you huffed, causing Liz to roll your eyes at you.

"A note isn't enough –"

"I know that! But it was late at night and, for once, he was asleep. I wasn't going to wake him up and keep him up worried," you huffed, only for her to sigh contently at your words.

"You're lucky Silver."

"And why's that? –"

"Your father **actually** cares. Even if you're too much of a brat to appreciate it –"

"I see it! But I'm not a little kid. I can take care of myself –"

"Says the kid that told me just how many times she got herself kidnapped," Alex decided to say, only to flinch as you hit him in the arm, again. "Sorry, but it's true."

"Not my fault. And besides, the times I **did** disappear I avoided getting nabbed. And I'm sure most enemies want me dead anyways, these days," you responded, stabbing roughly into your food, and he sighed deeply at your words.

"You worry me too much."

"Sorry," you responded angerly, but Alex shook his head, smiling meekly to himself.

"So… you three are?"

"Oh. I apologize. We haven't introduced ourselves," James responded, smiling meekly while Jessie was simply staring, and judging. Probably being smart enough to not gain too much attention, but still fuming over whatever happened between her and Cassidy.

Why she lets that girl get underneath your skin, you have no idea.

But you began to tune out the conversation, finding yourself mentally exhausted, and wondering if Ghost was done, yet. Or if you're going to have to wait another day or two before moving forward with your research.

! #$%^&*())(*&^%$# !

_Prego_ [Italian] – you're welcome/please


End file.
